To Love a Criminal: Act I
by eframTrabbit
Summary: After a mishap forces Lisa to attend college in Florida under a different name,she discovers that one of her new teachers is none other then Sideshow Bob,who is also hiding his identity. Together the two must learn to trust each other in order to keep their secrets safe. Things become more complicated when their student/teacher relationship starts to become something more. BobxLisa
1. Botched Beginnings

Happy Easter everyone! :) It's been a while since I've worked on a fanfic but I hope this one will help me get back into the swing of things. I got this idea after watching an episode of the Simpsons that featured Sideshow Bob and Lisa and suddenly found myself shipping them as a potential future couple. This is my first multi-chapter Simpsons fanfic but hopefully I can do it justice. I also wrote a one-shot fic that acts as a prologue to this story, so feel free to read that one first if you so choose, as I will make small references to it from time to time. In the meantime, enjoy my new story!

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Chapter 1: Botched Beginnings

Lisa couldn't believe the day had finally come. After years of toiling away in a low brow educational system, she had finally graduated and was officially on her way to college.

"Oh how I dreamed of this day! By tomorrow I'll be rubbing elbows with the most prestigiously selected students in the country, be taught by some of the most brilliant-minded professors and receive an education equal to that of John Steinbeck, Sally Ride and Tiger Woods."

At the tender age of 18, Lisa was finally ready for the high levels of education she yearned for. Prior to her graduation from Springfield High, she was immediately accepted to several universities. But there was one in particular she had her eye on and she managed to get into it on a full scholarship.

"We're so proud of you sweetie." Marge gushed, hugging her tightly. "How many parents can say they have a child who got a full acceptance to Stanford University?"

All of Lisa's family had come out with her to the airport where she awaited a private plane to fly her and several other students out to the university in California. Homer and Marge naturally were proud and supportive of Lisa's departure to college but were also saddened that she had to move so far away.

"Just be sure to write to us when you can. Or call, or text, or even insta-face us when you're free." Marge said, keeping a tight hug on her daughter. "Or is it face-a-gram? I lose track of all these social media terms."

"Lisa honey, I don't often say this and I don't want to put any pressure on you but…please, for the love of god, don't screw this up!" Homer pleaded with her. "You got your foot in the door, now ya just gotta kick it down and head-butt the teachers in the face with your knowledge! Someone in this family has to bring honor back to the Simpson name! And we know for damn sure it won't be this bum over here.

"Hey, I could totally succeed and bring back the family honor." Bart said, leaning back on the waiting room chair, his feet propped up on Lisa's suitcase. "I just don't wanna is all…"

"Don't worry Dad, I won't let you down." Lisa assured him. "I won't let any of you down. By the time you see me for winter break, I'll already be in my class's top 10 helping the assistant teachers prepare their back-up curriculum. You'll see."

Lisa hugged both her parents, both who looked hopefully yet worried.

"Just please, please be careful." Marge asked. "Freshman year is the most turbulent and unstable year there for a young college student."

"Yeah it's like going through all your high school years in one long drunken stupor." Homer agreed. "Except you don't have your parents to bail you out of jail when it's over…"

"Have no fear. I have everything planned out exactly, right down to the smallest detail. Nothing can go wrong." Lisa assured them.

Bart scoffed. "Looks like someone already jinxed herself."

"Attention passengers. Private flight 226 is now boarding en route to Stanford, California. Please have your assigned stamped golden tickets out and ready."

"Well this is it. I better get going. I'll miss you guys." Lisa gave her parent's one last hug before turning to Bart. "Well big brother?"

"If you think I'm getting all sappy and huggy feely just because you're leaving for several months, you're sadly mistaken." Bart said, whipping his pony tail over his shoulder as he took a sip out of a can of soda.

"How about a congratulatory hand touch then?" Lisa asked, raising her hand towards him.

Bart arched his eyebrow but then lazily raised his hand towards her. They high fived each other before Bart grabbed her wrist and gave her a quick Indian burn.

"Ouch! What'd you do that for?" Lisa exclaimed rubbing her wrist.

"Check it out." Bart said, pointing to her arm. Lisa removed her hand and saw the words, 'Miss you' marked into her skin.

"Aww, thank you Bart. I'll miss you too."

"Hey, I didn't say it and you can't prove it." Bart said, taking another sip of his drink. Lisa rolled her eyes.

"L-L-Lisa!"

Lisa turned around to see her little sister Maggie, now 11 years old, run up to her and hug her around the middle. "I'm gon-gonna mi-mi-miss you…"

"Aww I'll miss you too Maggie." Lisa said returning the hug. "I'm sorry I won't be around when you start your speech therapy lessons, but I know you'll do well at this new school. Just remember to take it slow and work hard. Always take a deep breath before you talk and the rest will follow."

Maggie took a deep breath and held her sisters hand. "I…will."

After one final group hug, Lisa grabbed her luggage and headed off towards her gate, giving her family one last wave goodbye.

"At last…my road to college starts now!" Lisa exclaimed as she set foot on the plane. As she walked into the aisle, she was met with loud Mexican music that was being performed by a mariachi band.

"What the-?"

"Sorry senorita, this is the Pollo Loco band's private plane to Tijuana. You want the Stanford plane next door." Said a maraca player as he shook his instrument in rhythm.

"D'oh!" Lisa exclaimed and raced off the plane, into the gate next door which thankfully hadn't taken off yet.

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Several hours later, Lisa's plane landed in the private airport of Stanford. There she was met by chauffeurs who drove her and several other students to the exquisite campus and up to the admissions building. The building gleamed against the sun as if it had been newly polished.

"This is so exciting!" Lisa exclaimed as she walked up the steps to the enormous building. "Everything is so refined and glamorous. I can't wait to get started!"

Lisa waited in line for her schedule, practically giddy with anticipation. She finally got to the front where an old woman sat at a desk with a list of names and a pile of schedules. "Name?"

"Lisa Simpson."

The woman looked through her list. "Simpson…Simpson…nope not on the list."

Lisa paused for a moment. "Beg pardon?"

"You heard me. You're names not listed."

Registering her words, Lisa laughed nervously. "But that's…that's not possible. Please check the list again."

The woman read her list and again shook her head. "Nope, still not here. Are you sure you're pronouncing it correctly?"

"Of course I'm pronouncing it correctly, it's my name!" Lisa exclaimed. "I'm Lisa Simpson from Springfield, I was accepted to Stanford University on a full scholarship and I have the plane ticket and letter of acceptance to prove it!"

The woman looked at Lisa with indifference as she shoved her papers in the woman's face. Deciding to humor her, the woman re-checked her list once more but still she shook her head. "I'm sorry miss but you're not appearing anywhere on the list. If you're sure you're meant to be here, I suggest checking in with the dean of admissions. Now move along, you're holding up the line."

Lisa reluctantly stepped out of line, and sat down on a nearby chair. How could she not be on the list of attendees? Was she at the right school? Had she been accepted somewhere else by mistake? Thinking of all the possibilities made her feel lightheaded and she felt as if she were ready to hyperventilate herself into a coma.

"It's alright…it's okay Lisa…" she comforted herself by taking deep breathes. "It's just a small oversight is all. I'm sure once you talk to the dean of admissions, it'll all be cleared up."

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"Well Ms. Simpson, I just went through your records and I'm sorry to say, you were not accepted to Stanford."

Lisa sat in a chair across from the Head Dean of Admissions, Mr. Mason who had managed to locate her application and went over it with a fine tooth comb. After hearing Mr. Mason's statement, Lisa felt like she was going to be sick.

"But…but…there must be some mistake! My acceptance letter…"

"Oh yes there were indeed some mistakes, on both our ends it seems." The dean explained. "You see you were indeed initially granted full admission to the school, but after a glitch in the system was discovered and a second background check was made, further look into your records indicated that you did not meet the schools requirements."

"Not meet requirements!?" Lisa exclaimed, feeling insulted. "I completed every class in Springfield High with flying colors! For god sake, I completed the advanced courses while I was still a freshman!"

"I know Ms. Simpson, it says it all here on your file. However, it seems your school went through a couple of changes during your high school career, becoming a variety of other institutes including a hurricane shelter, a soup kitchen and even… a minimum security prison?" Mr. Mason looked at Lisa with confusion.

Lisa simply sighed in annoyance, remembering the ridiculous changes her school went through over the years. "Our mayor had a habit of cutting back on educational funds and supplies so the school had to do what it could to get money and stay open, including becoming a homeless shelter. I still remember having to share my desk with Jeff the hobo…"

"Yes well, consequently…" Mr. Mason continued. "It seems that some of your school credits went unrecorded during those times and thus did not get added into your GPA. As such, you were left with enough credits to pass high school but not enough to qualify for Stanford."

"This can't be happening…" Lisa shook her head, feeling devastated. "Why didn't the school tell me about this mistake sooner?

"According to my records, the school did send a notice explaining the mistake and offering alternative routes, but they never received a response from you. So instead, they went and completely removed you from the system. We do apologize for this inconvenience and will of course reimburse any expenses you had in coming here."

"Please Mr. Mason, Stanford is my dream school! There has to be something I can do to get in!" Lisa begged desperately. "Please, I'll do anything!"

Mr. Mason thought for a moment as Lisa held her breath in anticipation.

"Well…there is one way…although it would mean an additional year of schooling and would put you amongst intense competition..."

"I'll do it! Whatever it is, I'll do it!" Lisa said hastily.

"Now hold on, hold on. Allow me explain." Mr. Mason said. "You see, to gain the necessary amount of credits to be considered for re-application, you would have to join a private work-study program…

"That doesn't sound too bad…"

"…in Florida."

Lisa gasped in horror.

"Now is where it gets tricky." Mr. Mason went on. "You see Stanford has work-study programs around the world open to students who don't have the financial or complete credentials for initial application. So to give them a fair chance at proving themselves, we enroll them in a yearlong study program to test their dedication and intelligence. The dean and head of the work-study program will assess them and pick the five students they deem most worthy to attend Stanford."

Lisa looked uncertain. "So you're saying I have to attend a different school in another state for an entire year, earn back the credits I didn't get in high school, outshine several other students and win over all my professors just to have a chance of attending Stanford?"

"In a nut shell, yes." Mr. Mason nodded.

Lisa thought for a moment and nodded looking determined. "I'll do it. Anything to get in. But there is a problem you should be aware of though."

"What's that?"

"My family isn't exactly welcome in Florida. There were some…unpleasantries…some years ago that got us a life-long ban." Lisa said remember what Homer did to that alligator. "I'm worried about law enforcement apprehending me as soon as I set foot over the state border. Isn't there another campus I can go to instead?"

"I'm sorry Lisa but Stanford only has one intern program per country. Unless you plan on learning Chinese or Romanian or some other foreign language by next week, Florida's your best bet."

"I see…" Lisa said feeling disappointed. "Well what if…I changed my name? Of at least put my credits under a different alias?"

The dean thought for a moment. "Hmm, that would be rather unorodox…but I suppose if you were already legally known under a different name-"

A light bulb went off in Lisa's brain. "I am! I do have another legal name. As long as it's okay with the school, I'll put all my school credits under that name and transfer it back when I attend next year!"

The dean nodded. "Splendid then. We'll be sure to make a note of that. But let it be known you will be in charge of all the legal paperwork for yourself."

"Consider it done sir." Lisa assured him. "When do I leave?"

"You can board the next flight out of Stanford. I'll be sure to reserve your plane ticket and have an escort drive you to the campus." The dean said, getting out his BlackBerry and typing into it.

"Thank you sir." Lisa said, before suddenly becoming uncomfortable. "Now…I should mention that I don't have much in terms of money…my parents were counting on me getting a scholarship and didn't save up much for college…"

"That won't be an issue Ms. Simpson." Mr. Mason assured her. "Since you're now involved in the work-study program, Stanford will be paying your room and board so long as your grades remain consistent with its standards." He then picked up a pamphlet and handed it to her. "Here. You'll be staying at the Florida State University main campus where you will attend all English Major Courses, as indicated by your missing credit report."

Lisa took the pamphlet which featured a nice school campus with lots of tall brick buildings surrounded by palm trees. It looked nice enough, but not as nice as Stanford.

"I do want to apologize again on behalf of Stanford for the inconvenience." Mr. Mason said sincerely. "Hopefully once you've arrive back next year, all this trouble will have all been worth the wait. I wish there was another quicker way of fixing this, but the school can only do so much. From here on out, the rest is up to you Ms. Simpson."

"Don't worry Mr. Mason. I will get back into Stanford and continue my college career. You can count on it!"

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Half an hour later, Lisa left the campus for the airport in the same limo that brought her there. She gazed back at the beautiful campus with longing. Only one more year and she'd be back where she belonged…

She then took out her phone and dialed in Bart's number. "Please pick up…"

"Hello Gus's Grisly Guts Market. You pick um, we stick um."

"Bart! It's me! I need a favor-"

"Geez Lise already? You've barely been gone a day and already I'm bailing you out-"

"Will you be quiet!? I don't have much time before I'm back on the plane. Now listen, some complicated stuff just went down and long story short, I'm on my way to Florida."

"Florida? I thought we were still banned from that place after the whole Alligator incident?"

"Yes, I know we still are. Which is why I need your help. I need a new identity. Or more accurately, an old one. I need you to access our old alternate ID records. You know, the ones mom keeps in a box in the attic?"

"Ah yes, the ol memory box." Bart said fondly. "So which alias you want me digging up for you? How about mom's old name, Chesty LaRue?"

"No Bart, I need something college appropriate." Lisa thought for a moment before deciding. "Use the one from Terror Lake. That way I won't have any trouble with the FBI. Send it to your friend at the precinct and have the info uploaded within the next 5 hours. Then send my new license in the mail to Florida State University. With any luck, no one at the airport or college will need to check it before then."

"Gotcha. Message ya once it's done." Bart then hung up and dialed a new number. "Yes I'd like to speak to Lieutenant Wiggum please…Ralph my main man! I need ya to do me another favor. This time, I'll be sure to pay ya with 2 boxes of your favorite Girl Scout cookies."

"Yay, I get special Do-Si-Do treats for helping!" Ralph yelled over the phone.

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Meanwhile, later that night down in Florida, in a small apartment just outside the University State Campus, the former criminal known as Sideshow Bob lay in bed tossing and turning, large beads of sweat running down his face. Moaning loudly, he awoke with a gasp and shot straight up breathing heavily. Frantically he looked around his room but saw it was the same as it was before.

"Just…a dream…"

He stood up, barely able to balance on his abnormally large feet, and went straight to the bathroom, splashing water into his face. His bushy red hair drooped down, sticking to the mixture of sweat and water on his face.

"Another nightmare… another premature night of unrest…"

Once he had gotten the hair out of his eyes, Bob made his way back to bed yet did not fall back asleep. Lying on his side, he looked over at the clock on the mantle which read four o'clock AM. He grumbled angrily, grabbed his pillow and pulled it over his face trying to smother himself. Just what he needed the weekend before fall semester, another rough night of attempted sleep that would leave him looking exhausted and sickly to his students and fellow teachers. It was the third time that week it happened and he was getting sick of it.

"Oh Morpheus, you cruel winged daemon, why can't you deliver me just one peaceful night of rest?"

While most people would usually fall back asleep after a nightmare, Bob knew no rest would come for him. How could it when he was so afraid…afraid of the fire that consumed his dreams. Afraid of the creature that caused the flames, a spikey haired demon with an obnoxious laugh that reminded him so much of his old hated nemesis…

It had been ten years since he'd seen him, but even now as Bob lay awake staring at the ceiling till the dawn broke, he could still picture the wicked creature standing over him, taunting and laughing…always laughing…

Before he knew it, his alarm had gone off and Bob found himself walking back to his bathroom, his eyes bloodshot and glazed over in a zombiefied state. He looked at his ragged self in the mirror and clenched his fists, feeling his anger surge.

"Someday I will be rid of you demon!" He said to himself, the evil creature still visible in his head. "Someday I will be rid of you permanently and only then will I finally have a peaceful nights rest…until then I shall continue to curse you and the wretched family that spawned you…may the worst possible thing in the world happen to you ten fold...Bart Simpson…"

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	2. Unexpected Meetings

Chapter 2: Unexpected Meetings

Lisa arrived the next morning in Florida, her eyes blood-shot and her nerves on edge. She hadn't slept much on the plane, partly because she was waiting anxiously for a text from Bart and partly because the man behind her kept snoring loudly. Thankfully Bart had messaged her shortly before her plane landed confirming that all her info has been changed and would now match her new identity. Still maintaining caution, Lisa and her escort made their way swiftly through the airport and into the rental car where the escort was careful to drive the speed limit so they wouldn't run into any law enforcement.

"Here we are Miss, Florida State University."

After less than twenty minutes of driving, Lisa beheld the large open campus of Florida State. Looking out the window, she was met with rolling green fields and tall luscious Palm trees. She also noticed a lot of students out and about enjoying the warm weather, wearing short shorts, playing Frisbee and sunbathing on the campus fountain. It all looked encouraging till Lisa's car passed a group of frat boys spraying each other with hoses.

"Hey there Goldie locks." A dark-haired boy called out to her. "You have a smudge on your car. Don't worry, I'll get it!"

Lisa ducked back into the car and rolled up the window as the boy sprayed the side door with the hose. She grumbled, hoping her dorm wouldn't be located next to any rowdy frat house.

Thankfully it wasn't as her driver pulled up by a lovely brick building that seemed to house art majors, as indicated by the students with brightly colored hair and tattoos as well as musicians that played on the front steps.

"Here you are Miss." Said the driver, hoisting her luggage out of the trunk. "Afraid this is as far as I go. You're on your own from this point."

"That's okay, I can manage." Lisa then gave a tip to the driver who nodded gratefully and got back in the car. As he drove off, Lisa looked at her dorm with a sick uneasy feeling. This was it. Her pre-college career had begun and it would take all her tenacity and intellect to get through it in one piece.

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After receiving her dorm papers, Lisa managed to locate her room on the third floor, amidst a hall filled with brightly colored drawings and splash paintings on its walls. Her room was simple and bare, with two beds, two desks, one couch and a bathroom. Choosing the bed nearest the window, Lisa began unpacking her things which mostly consisted of clothes, toiletries, books and her old saxophone. As she started shelving her books, one particular item caught her attention. An old worn out poetry book with a curly haired man on the cover…

She smiled and opened the book to a random section to begin reading. As she got to the second page of a poem, she heard the door open behind her and a familiar voice speak up.

"Lisa? Is that you?"

Looking up, Lisa gasped in surprise. "Janey!"

The brown haired girl looked at her in surprise and instantly dropped her flower print luggage. "It is you! What a surprise!"

"I'll say!" Lisa said as Janey gave her a hug. "I thought you were going to Parsons in New York for a fashion degree."

"I was, but then my mom divorced my deadbeat dad and now he's refusing to help pay for my tuition." She said bitterly. "Then I heard about the work-study program for Stanford and decided to give it a try instead. If I make it, I could get a scholarship and become a designer like Edith Head or Danny Pitauro."

"Umm, Pitauro isn't a designer-"

"And what about you?" Janey said, ignoring her comment. "I thought for certain you'd been accepted to Stanford from the get go."

"It's kinda a long story, but basically I too hit a snag and now have to enroll in the same work-study as you to get in. I hope that won't create any hostile competitive feelings between us…"

"Of course not." Janey assured her. "I mean there's like ten open spots to compete for-"

"Five, actually." Lisa corrected her with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah whatever. I can totally do it." Janey shrugged off. "So tell me what's been going on with you Lisa. Did your mom finally leave your dad too?"

"What? Of course not. Why would you ask that?"

"Oh, well, I noticed they spelled your name differently on the door is all." She gestured to the paper taped on their door:

'**Room 309: Janine Jackson and Lisa Thompson**'.

"I thought maybe you took your mom's last name like I did mine. That or the school did a horrible job of spelling it."

"No, no. You're reading it correctly. Unfortunately it ties into why I didn't get accepted to Stanford…" Lisa then went on to give one long explanation about the incident that caused her to be rejected from Stanford, including the schools offer to send her to Florida State, her family's ban from Florida and how Bart used his connections to re-install her old identity so she could attend school.

"So you see, legally I'm not supposed to be here, but I need to be so I have a chance of getting into Stanford. It's really important to me but it's also something I'd rather people not know about…"

"Wow, that's a bummer." Janey said. "Though it does make me see Bart a little more competently now that he has police connections. Is he seeing anyone by the way?"

"Focus Janey please?" Lisa begged. "You're the only person here who knows my true identity and I need you to keep it a secret. For real this time. Please?"

"What do you mean 'for real this time'? I've kept secrets for you before." Janey said folding her arms.

"And you've always had a way of letting them out. Remember when I told you I thought Sherri and Terri's new hairdos looked dumb and the next day they threw their hairpins at me?"

"What, I agreed with you and told them myself. I just used you as a second opinion is all…"

"Or the time I had a crush on the foreign exchange student and he spit on me during lunch?"

"I was trying to put in a good word for you. Some of those words however got grossly mistranslated…"

"Or the time I had really bad eczema on my arms and you screamed at the class not to go near me because I'd bleed on them."

"They were getting too close and I didn't want them scrapping your skin!"

Lisa glared at Janey who eventually looked down in shame. "Okay fine, maybe I'm a bit of a blabbermouth…"

"Which is why it's really, really important you not say anything this time." Lisa said, grabbing her friend's shoulders. "If anyone from the sheriff's department found out I was here, I could be arrested and have to quit school, meaning I'll never get into Stanford. And if I don't get into Stanford, I'll have to go to a second rate college. And if I go to a second rate college, I won't get a good job! And if I don't get a good job, I'll have to settle down with someone like Milhouse and my life will be ruined! Janey I don't want to marry Milhouse!"

"Lise, Lise, calm down." Janey said shaking her a little. "That won't happen, trust me. I promise you, I won't say anything. After all, my uncle was in a similar situation. He got himself banned from Utah when he tried introducing tiger sharks into the lake. I may let some things slip but I know how to keep important secrets like those a secret."

Lisa smiled gratefully. "Thank you Janey. Sorry I overreacted. It's just been a really stressful weekend."

"No problem." She said, lifting her luggage onto the other bed. "Now let's unpack and relax. We have a whole day before classes start and I just bought season thirteen of Game of Crowns. Now I can finally see what that 'Scarlet Baptism' episode is all about. Wanna watch?"

"Sure, I could use a nice distraction." Lisa said as she too started unpacking. "By the way, did you get your schedule yet?"

"Not yet. We should be getting them first thing tomorrow though. I do hope we get some classes together. And I really hope we don't get stuck with any nasty, F-giving teachers…"

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The bell rang early on Monday morning, signaling the start of the new semester. While all the new students were in orientation, the professors had gathered in the teacher's lounge, drinking coffee and preparing their class curriculum's. Suddenly the door burst open and Bob walked in, dripping wet from head to toe while he grumbled angrily to himself.

All the professors stopped what they were doing and watched as he walked into the lounge and sat at a table, taking off his small hat which revealed his large, sopping wet main of curly red hair.

"Why Professor Sullivan, you look dreadful!" said a mustached professor. "I didn't realize the forecast called for heavy rain."

"It didn't" Bob retorted. "Nor did it call for rambunctious, ill-mannered frat boys armed with water hoses spraying everything in sight!"

The mustached professor laughed heartily. "Oh yes, I remember those days. Don't be upset Sullivan, it's merely some freshman hazing, nothing harmful. After all, boys will be boys."

"Yes, boys will indeed be boys Harold." He wrung out water from the dreads in his hair. "And so shall they always and forever be boys. Never men!"

"Oh quit being such a stick in the mud Sullivan, it's just a little water. It won't hurt you." The professor scoffed, smacking him on the back much to Bob's chagrin.

"I happen to agree with Robert."

An attractive woman with short brown hair in a blue suit walked towards the men, a stern look on her face. "It'd be one thing if they hosed down actual freshmen, but to hose down a teacher shows blatant disrespect for authority. I'll see to it their frat gets a stern warning and suspended water privileges."

"Finally, someone who agrees to taking a firm hand with those ruffians!" Bob exclaimed.

"Oh come now you two, it's just a bit of fun-"

"Don't you have a lesson to get ready for Harold?" the woman turned to him. "Or do I need to report you to the dean for failing to properly conduct your class on time again?"

The mustached professor grumbled, grabbed his folders and walked out of the lounge.

"Thank you Tina." Bob said as the woman sat in the seat next to him. "It's nice to have another like-minded individual in this faculty that doesn't encourage such reputable behavior."

"Of course Robert." Tina replied, her expression much warmer. "Someone needs to open the faculty's eyes to what these brats are. Bunch of stupid spoiled pretty boys and girls who think life will be handed to them on a silver platter. But they'll soon learn…oh they will learn…"

"Ah, yes…I'm sure they will…" Robert shifted in his seat, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Oh one last thing Robert." She opened her briefcase and handed him a paper. "I plan on holding a meeting for all the professors next week to review this year's revised curriculum and was wondering if you'd be willing to help me out a bit."

"I'd be happy to Tina. So what I am to do? Serve drinks, hand out curriculums, check off attendance- "

"Actually I was hoping you'd organize the whole thing plus the opening speech and assemble the curriculum outline. I'd do it myself but the Dean is having me and the other department heads attend a very exclusive meeting which will leave me with very little time."

"The whole meet- Are you mad woman!?" Bob exclaimed. "I haven't even started my lessons yet and already you're dumping all these responsibilities on me?"

"Come now Robert, we both know you're the better candidate when it comes to public speaking and organization. Much better than all the other so-called English professors here. I just wouldn't feel comfortable putting my trust in anyone here but you. Besides, I'm trying to impress the Dean so he'll make me his new assistant and future successor. Once he does, I promise I'll make it all your while…"

She then put her hand on his wrist and gazed at him intently. "Please say you'll do it."

Bob glared at her and moved his arm away from her. "I need some time to set a few affairs in order first. You'll have my answer by the end of the day but for now, I must go prepare for my lesson. I'll see you at lunch Professor."

"See you there Prof. Sullivan." Tina said, fluttering her lashes at him. Bob ignored her and hastily made his way out of the lounge.

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Lisa and Janey walked out of orientation with their class schedules in hand, pleased to see they had at least two classes together out of the five they each had.

"Let see, our first class of the day is 'Critical and Literary Theory' and after that, 'Poetic Writing and Composition'." Lisa read off her sheet.

"Ugh, those classes sound boring and hard." Janey complained.

"On the contrary, they sound challenging and highly engaging. Especially the first class. Oh I can't wait to get started! Finally we have some high-level courses to stimulate our minds and intellects! How I've been waiting for this day!"

"Whatever you say Lise." Janey said, clearly uninterested.

The girls made their way down the south wing to the Critical and Literary Theory class and got seats in the front row. As soon as the bell rang, a woman with short brown hair in spiffy blue dress suit entered, setting down her briefcase.

"Greetings class, I'm Prof. Cantwell. I don't like wasting time and neither should all of you. Turn off your phones and have your notebooks and pencils ready by the time I finish writing on the board."

As the students began unpacking their notebooks, Lisa found herself distracted by the Professor who was writing up the curriculum. She was convinced she had seen her somewhere before. The name certainly sounded familiar. But where had she heard it…?

Suddenly the Professor spotted Lisa out of the corner of her eye and glared in her direction. Panicking, Lisa quickly began emptying her bag looking for her notebook.

"Now class, just so we're clear, there is going to be a lot of fast paced writing in this class. I do not slow down for anyone so if you can't keep up, I suggest you drop the class now cause you will be left in the dust. You there!"

Lisa dropped her pencil in surprise and went to grab it when Prof. Cantwell made her way over.

"I thought I told you to have your notebook and pencil ready by the time I finished writing."

"Sorry, I had trouble finding my pencil. Little guy was hiding at the bottom of my pencil case." Lisa said with a nervous laugh as the teacher stared down at her. "But I'm ready now…"

"You should have been ready 5 seconds ago!" Prof. Cantwell snapped at her. "Let it be known to all of you that I have zero tolerance for tardiness and lolly gagging. Especially from pretty little, pearl wearing, blonde girls like you."

She then leaned down and wrote a big fat zero on top of Lisa's blank notebook page.

"A zero!? But why? What for?"

"Because I felt like it, that's why!"

Lisa opened her mouth to object but stopped herself. Suddenly she remembered who Prof. Cantwell was, and the realization horrified her.

Professor Cantwell was none other than her old substitute teacher from back in Springfield Elementary. The same substitute who bullied her and singled her out simply because of how she looked. The same substitute she and Bart had helped get kicked out of school.

"As punishment for delaying class, a 3 page essay on Chapter 1. Have in by next lesson. Everyone else, have your pencils ready. We begin the lesson…now!"

Immediately there was the loud scratching of a dozen pencils while Prof. Cantwell started her lecture. Lisa did her best to keep up but her mind was going a mile a minute. She couldn't believe her old bully and substitute was teaching here. How was she going to get the credits she needed for Stanford when one of her Professors hated her off the bat and would do anything to flunk her?

Luckily it seemed Prof. Cantwell didn't recognize her, which brought Lisa some relief, so she kept a low profile, trying to do whatever it took to pass the class. However, as the class continued, Lisa noticed Prof. Cantwell continued to throw her dirty looks and would purposely walk by her desk, glancing into her notebook as she walked by, as if she were trying to catch Lisa in the act of goofing off so she'd have another excuse to flunk her. Luckily, Lisa retained concentration and ignored Cantwell's piercing glares.

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By the time the bell rang again 2 hours later, Lisa felt like she had just been released from a torture chamber. Her nerves were tightly wound, her wrist was cramping up and her eyes struggled to re-adjust as she had been staring intently at her notebook to avoid Cantwell's loathsome gaze. Gathering her things, she quickly raced out of the classroom and continued to move quickly through the halls till she was in the same hallway as her next class. Behind her, she heard Janey running to keep up with her, gasping for air.

"Lisa, wait up!" Janey said, finally catching up and taking a few deep breaths as she handed her a notebook. "You dropped this. Be careful not to lose it, or Prof. Cantwell will punish you big time. I have a big feeling she has it in for you."

"You're feeling happens to be entirely correct." Lisa said, and went on to explain to Janey who Prof. Cantwell really was.

"That's right! I remember her now!" Janey exclaimed. "Oh man Lise. If she still hates you as much as she did then, you're college career is doomed."

"Tell me about it…" Lisa said, hanging her head in defeat.

Janey put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Come on let's get to our next class. Maybe reading some boring poetry will cheer you up."

Lisa gave her a half-hearted smile and followed her to their next class. Within 15 minutes, the other students had shown up and filled the desks, although the Professor's seat remained vacant. Lisa continued to act despondently despite Janey's best efforts to cheer her up.

"I looked up some reviews on that site that rates professors and a lot of them say that Prof. Sullivan is a pretty good teacher." Janey said, showing Lisa her iPhone. "At least he got much better reviews then Cantwell did. Who know, maybe this class will be better."

"I wouldn't count on it Janey. After everything's that happened, I'm convinced that I must be cursed. Bad enough I got rejected from my dream school, now I'm stuck in Florida with an old bully who hates my guts. How could this get any worse?"

"Hello there class, sorry I'm late."

Lisa froze. That voice…

She and the other students turned to see a tall man wearing glasses, a brown suit and matching bowler hat walk behind the teacher's desk, carrying a large stack of papers and a briefcase in his arms.

"Had to take care of some business before making my grand entrance." He said, putting the stack down on his desk. "Now then, I am your teacher, Prof. Sullivan. And I am here to teach you all the fine art of poetry and poetic composition. My curriculum is straight forward and my rules are simple, as long as you cite your works and complete them on time, you should at least get a passing grade. This is an interactive course so expect lots of reading and writing as well as a daily composition. There will be plenty of opportunity for extra credit as well. Now then, with that out of the way, let's take attendance shall we?"

"He doesn't seem so bad." Janey whispered to Lisa. "At least he's nicer then Cantwell eh Lise?...Lisa?"

But Lisa remained frozen in her seat, her eyes fixed on the professor. He couldn't be who she thought... Yet everything about him seemed almost the same. His build, his voice, she could even spot locks of red hair poking out from beneath his hat.

"Janine Jackson?" Prof. Sullivan read off.

"Here!" Janey said raising her hand.

"Good…Fredrick St. Banks?" Prof. Sullivan called out.

"Fredrick St. Banks the Third." Said a surely voice from the back of the class belonging to the same dark haired boy who had sprayed Lisa's car with a hose. "Also, present and more than accounted for."

"Yes, indeed." Prof Sullivan said curtly, remembering the hooligan who nailed him with the same hose earlier that morning. "And finally, Lisa Thompson…..Lisa Thompson?...Has anyone seen Lisa?"

"She right here!" Janey piped up pointing to Lisa who had snapped out of her petrified state and was now trying to duck away behind one of her books, hoping that he wouldn't recognize her.

"Would you mind speaking up Ms. Thompson? I want to be able to associate your voice with-"

Prof. Sullivan then stopped mid-sentence, a look of horror on his face as he spotted Lisa's slicked back spikey blonde hair and her fearful eyes looking back at him from behind her book. His throat having gone dry, he quickly turned away. "Uh never mind Ms. Thompson, I see you there. Now then, let's get started-"

In his haste, he knocked over his stack of papers which spilled all over the floor. Quickly he came out from behind his desk to pick them up. That's when Lisa spotted his abnormally large shoes…

"AHHH! SIDESHOW B-WOAHH!"

*CRASH*

In her shock, Lisa had jumped to her feet and got caught in the strap of her bag, causing her to lose her balance and fall backwards over her chair, crashing hard onto the floor. All the students jumped up and gathered around Lisa, who had become briefly unconscious after her head collided with the floor.

"Lisa! Are you okay?" Janey exclaimed, shaking her friend's shoulders.

Lisa lay on the ground motionless for a moment before slowly opening her eyes. Moaning, she reached for the back of her head which was pounding with pain from where she hit the floor. She tried looking up at the crowd surrounding her but could barely focus as everyone looked like a bunch of fuzzy colored blobs.

"Everyone stand back, give her some air."

Suddenly a large brown blob appeared and seemed to be kneeling beside her. She felt him put his hand under her neck and tenderly lift her into a sitting position. She put a hand over her face to stop the dizziness that occurred as she heard the same voice tell someone to get an ice pack from his desk.

"Here you are Professor!" said Janey's voice.

"Thank you Ms. Jackson. Hold it against her head and help me escort Ms. Thompson to the medical wing."

Lisa then felt herself being hoisted up by the Professor who placed her arm over his shoulder before placing the other over Janey's.

"Everyone please make sure to fix up this room while I'm gone and prepare to write down tonight's homework assignments. I shall be back once I drop off Ms. Thompson."

The class groaned as Lisa, Janey and Prof. Sullivan made their way out of the classroom toward First Aid. It didn't take them long to reach the nurse, who took over carrying Lisa from Prof. Sullivan allowing him to return to class.

However, before he could return, Prof. Sullivan stopped briefly in a nearby bathroom to stop himself from hyperventilating. "Dear god, what is she doing here? Oh this is bad…this is very, very bad…"

Of all the horrible things to happen to him since becoming a professor, this was by far the worst possible thing. Not only had someone from his past shown up at the school, but the person was none other than Lisa Simpson, the sister of his most hated enemy and the number one reason he often wound up back in prison. Even worse, she had clearly recognized him back in class and he knew it was a matter of time before she revealed him as Sideshow Bob, the former insane criminal mastermind.

"Okay Bob calm down…you have some time to think of how to deal with the situation."

Making his way back to class, Bob started developing a plan in his head. It would tough to outwit Lisa given how she was the smart one in the Simpson clan, but Bob knew he had to be smarter in order to keep his secret safe, no matter what the cost.

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Oh my, what diabolic scheme does Bob have up his sleeve this time? What will Lisa say when she comes to? Stay tuned for Chapter 3 coming soon.

Hope you all enjoyed my first two chapters. There will be plenty more to come. Please remember to R&amp;R!


	3. Silent Agreements

This chapter's a little long, but I wanted to set up everything needed for the story line. Feel like I rewrote this a dozen times over to get it right. Hopefully you all like it. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3: Silent Agreements

Lisa slowly opened her eyes and was instantly met with blinding pain as the bright ceiling lights shined down upon her. She tried turning away only to feel an intense pain along shooting down her neck, causing her to flinch and lean into a cold ice pack that had been propped underneath. "Ow..."

"Oh good, you're awake." Said the elderly woman as she removed the ice pack and helped Lisa up into a sitting position. Lisa gazed around, taking a moment to realize where she was, as the last thing she remembered was being carried to the nurse's office.

Lisa rubbed her head groggily. "What happened…did I pass out?"

"Yes dear. Shortly after you came into the office, I gave you some aspirin to help ease the pain and you sort of drifted off. You came in with quite a bump on your noggin. It seems to have gone down a bit but I'll still need to examine you to make sure there's no further injury."

Lisa closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to shake off the dull throbbing. "What time is it…is class still going on?"

"No talking during the exam." The nurse then forced her eyes open and jammed a scope at them, checking her retinas and overall vision. "Hmm, no signs of a concussion…tracking of movement seems okay…eyeball's a little bloodshot but that could be due to dryness or lack of sleep…."

As Lisa waited for the nurse to finish her exam, she glanced up at the clock on the wall and gasped. "Oh no, is that the correct time!? Was I really out that long?"

"Why yes deary. You've been out for a little over two hours now. Sorry to say you missed your last class as well as lunch-"

"Why didn't anyone wake me? Did someone take notes? I need to get going right away!" Lisa asked as she went into panic mode.

"Now take it easy there missy. You're still very woozy and need to lay down-"

"Forget taking it easy, my next class begins in ten minutes! I need to get out of here!" Lisa went to get up but the nurse forced her back down.

"You're not going anywhere unless it's back to sleep or straight to your dorm. You've had a nasty fall plus a head injury and you need your rest."

"But it's the first day of classes!" Lisa protested. "I've already missed one, I need to-"

Suddenly there was a tapping at the door. "Knock, knock! May I come in?"

Lisa stopped struggling and watched as Prof. Sullivan strolled into the nurse's office. Suddenly she remembered why she was there in the first place and what she almost said out loud back in class. Realizing he must've figured out who she was, Lisa glanced fearfully up at the man she knew to be Sideshow Bob, expecting him to have an angry or mischievous look in his eye as he planned her demise. His expression however remained calm and serene as he smiled down at her, like she was any other student. It kind of took Lisa off guard and made her wonder if he recognized her after all.

"Forgive my intrusion. I just wanted to see how the patient is doing."

"It's no intrusion at all Robert." The nurse said kindly to him. "I was just telling Miss Thompson here that she needs to take it easy before she knocks herself out again."

"But-but I need to get to class!" Lisa exclaimed.

"You need to stop worrying yourself or you'll do further damage to your cranium!" the nurse threatened, pointing her scope at her.

"Excuse me Abby but may I?" Prof. Sullivan asked politely, to which the nurse nodded. "Lisa I understand you're desperate to go to class and make a good first impression, but you must also follow Nurse Gale's advice if you're to avoid any further potential harm."

"But, I... My homework! My notes-"

"Now, now, don't work yourself into hysterics. Your friend Janey is waiting in my office with her copy of today's notes and has agreed to escort you to your remaining classes. And to further put your mind at ease, I will personally write you a tardy notice and an excused note for any further classes you may miss tonight. It is my opinion though that you should take the rest of the day easy for your own good. Does that sound agreeable to you Nurse Gale?"

"That seems very reasonable." She nodded in agreement.

"Well Lisa?" Bob then extended a hand to her. "Shall we go meet with your friend then?"

Lisa looked up at Bob in silent suspicion, trying to ignore her throbbing head. She could tell he was being way too accommodating, like he was trying to put her at ease before luring her into a trap. It left her conflicted on whether to accept his help or not but given how incredibly woozy and unbalanced she was feeling, chances were if she tried attending class on her own, she'd end up back in the nurse's office with a concussion before the bell rang. Seeing the clock ticking away, Lisa realized she had no choice and grabbed Bob's hand, allowing him to help her to her feet.

"There's a good girl. Don't worry Abby, I'll be sure to get her around safely." Prof. Sullivan assured the nurse, holding onto Lisa's arm with one hand while grabbing her bag with the other, along with a bottle of aspirin from the nurse.

"I don't doubt it. Just remember Lisa to keep a cold compress on your head, take aspirin for the pain and keep your head down to prevent dizziness. Feel better and take care now. You too Robert!" Nurse Gale said as the two made their way out of the office.

* * *

Lisa walked tensely through the halls of the school as she was led by Prof. Sullivan to his office. Thankfully the walk helped her to clear her head a bit, though she continued to experience a few dizzy spells that almost caused her to walk straight into various objects. Prof. Sullivan meanwhile walked in silence besides her, avoiding eye contact but was quick to react whenever she was about to collide with something. Many times she felt his hand grip her arm he steered her away from open doors, drinking fountains and narrowly prevented her from falling into an open mop bucket. While she was thankful for his guidance, she was also disturbed by his close constant presence. It felt less like he was looking out for her and more like he was trying to prevent her from escaping.

When they finally made it to his office, Lisa was both confused and alarmed when she saw it was empty. "Where's Janey?"

"I told her to get some lunch in the cafeteria while we waited for you to recover." Prof. Sullivan explained. "She should be back soon enough. Please come inside while you wait."

Lisa hesitated, suddenly felt anxious about going into Prof. Sullivan's office alone. She couldn't help but notice the out-of-place tinted glass window on the door, which was thick and clouded and would obscure anyone's vision from the outside. She also noticed a sword shaped letter opener sticking out of wooden mantelpiece on his desk next to a small cannon trinket by his computer that was shaped suspiciously like a gun.

"Can't we just meet her in the cafeteria instead? I'm rather eager to get to class-"

"Please Lisa, come inside." Prof. Sullivan repeated. "I want to have a private word with you first."

Realizing he would give her no choice, Lisa reluctantly went inside Prof. Sullivan's office and watched nervously as he closed the door behind her, locking it.

"Sit down." He said gesturing to the plush chair across from his desk.

Lisa obeyed and sat on chair, nervously wringing her hands as he sat down across from her. Prof. Sullivan removed his glasses and bowler hat, revealing his large afro-like main of red hair. While he had to have been in his mid-forties by this point, he still looked like the same Sideshow Bob she knew when she was eight. The only signs of his aging were some streaks of grey hair in his dreads and the slight increase in laugh lines around his eyes. He was also slimmer and had some noticeable dark circles under his eyes, making him look overworked and tired. Yet still, he remained as dignified as ever as he placed his hat on top of a small mini-hat stand on his desk and carefully folding his glasses back into its case.

"Let's not beat around the bush..." Bob said, put his hands together in a contemplative manner. "We both know why we are here right now…Ms. Simpson."

"So you do recognize me." Lisa said, sitting up straighter.

"Of course I do." Bob stated. "How could I not recognize the girl who is responsible for sending me to prison no less than five times…six had you managed to completely blow my cover earlier today."

Lisa then looked down, suddenly feeling embarrassed and foolish for doubting his intelligence. "I'm sorry for causing such a scene in class. I didn't mean to call out your old name, it was more from force of habit. I was just so surprised to see you here."

"Yes I know. You made that abundantly clear." Bob stated a note of displeasure in his voice. "Luckily none of the students made the connection or inquired further, otherwise I probably wouldn't be talking to you here right now."

"But how is it you're here to begin with?" Lisa asked suddenly curious. "Last time we saw each other, you threw yourself off the Springfield Dam. And nobody's seen or heard from you since."

"I'll admit, the story of my survival and subsequent travels is one of thrilling and captivating splendor, but that's not what we're here to discuss." Bob said in a serious tone, resting his hands on his desk while Lisa watched him nervously. "I'll be frank Lisa. You're the last person I neither expected nor wanted to see at this school, with the exception of your brother of course, and it is far from a welcome surprise. No doubt the feeling is mutual on your end."

"More then you know..." Lisa replied uneasily.

"Indeed. As such, your presence here now makes you one of the only people on campus with knowledge of my felonious past." Bob said. "And that, for me, creates a bit of a problem."

"Wait, who's are the other people that know?" Lisa asked.

"That's not important right now. What is important though, is what you and I plan to do now that you've stumbled into my hidden neck of the woods."

Bob then noticed Lisa's anxious gaze linger toward his right hand, which happened to be close to his dagger shaped letter opener. Calmly, he withdrew his hands off the desk and folded them in his lap.

"Before we begin, let me start off by saying that I did not bring you here with the intent to harm you, nor am I plotting some evil scheme in order to 'force your silence,' as I'm sure was your immediate train of thought. I realize my past actions will make this hard for you to believe, but I have legitimately moved on from my former life of crime and beyond the desire for murder and revenge."

Lisa snorted. "Where have I heard that before…"

"My only scheme this time was to bring you here and try to…persuade you, not to reveal what you know about my past crimes. As you can see, I've made a new life and a new name for myself here in this school and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to keep things quiet and peaceful. That includes bargaining and/or buying your silence if need be."

"Buying?" Lisa asked.

"But let it be known," Bob added hastily. "If its money we're talking, we'd have to set up a payment plan over at least several months. I'm a little strapped for cash and can only do a small amount per week-"

"Bob please, I don't want your money." Lisa added quickly. "And bargaining for my silence isn't necessary either. I know you've been in hiding these last ten years and you want it to stay that way. That's all perfectly fine with me. As long as you make no threats against me or my family, I see no reason to tell anyone about your past. I just want to get through these next two semesters in peace with as few attempts on my life as possible. Trust me when I say, I will keep your secret safe."

She smiled sincerely, hoping he'd return it. For a moment it seemed like he would, but instead he resumed a serious expression.

"I certainly wish I could believe that Lisa." Bob sighed. "I really do."

"Wait, you're saying you DON'T believe me?" Lisa asked, taken aback. "But I'm the well-behaved one in the Simpson clan!"

"I wouldn't say I 'don't' believe you…more like I 'can't' believe you." Bob said, looking off to the side at his computer before back at her. "Especially when you consider what happened the last time I entrusted you with such a delicate secret."

Lisa looked away in shame, remember all the trouble she caused in Italy years back. "Okay fine, so I've blurted a few things out by accident when I was younger. I was inebriated then and have since learned from that experience. I swear I haven't touched any alcoholic beverages in almost ten years now…six if we're counting Krusty-Brand Kosher Wine…"

"True. And yet, my mere presence in class today was enough for you to loudly and openly declare my stage name in front of all your fellow students. And that was without the assistance of alcohol." Bob sneered. "Forgive me Lisa, but given all that we've been through, I can't exactly view you as a beacon of silence now can I? How will I be certain this won't happen again during out next lesson? Or even after you step outside this office?"

"Because this time, I know about the situation and won't be taken off guard upon seeing you here." Lisa explained. "Besides, there's no real reason for me to tell people. You don't seem to be hurting anyone. Plus revealing what I know wouldn't be of any benefit to me."

"Indeed it wouldn't. In fact, I'm guessing it wouldn't be beneficial at all if certain little secrets were to get out in some way or form…eh 'Ms. Thompson'?" Bob asked her.

Lisa stiffened at the tone in which he used her fake name and eyed him suspiciously. "What are you implying exactly?"

"Why I've implied nothing." Bob said feigning innocents. "Though I must say, I am rather curious to know why you chose to use that particular last name. A little obvious don't you think? Isn't that the same one you and your family used while in witness protection? Seems to me the only reason you'd go by that pseudonym was if you were…hiding from someone."

Lisa could feel her pulse racing and her head starting to spin. Taking a deep breathe, she tried to remain calm under Bob's passive threats. "Look, I know what you're getting at. But you must know that our situations are different. I had to change my name. It's the only way I'll be able to attend classes here and have a shot of going to my dream school. If word got out on who I really am, I'd be kicked out of this state faster than my dad at an all-you-can-eat buffet, and then all my plans for the future would be ruined. I can't just be another washed up Springfield U alumni! This is my chance at a better life!"

"I see. Different you say?" An indignant look appeared on Bob's face as he sat upright. "Well Lisa, it might surprise you to know that I too had to change my name in order to teach at this school. And I spent five years building up a reputation for that name in the vain hopes that it would also lead me towards having a better life...something that would most definitely be ruined should my unfortunate background be revealed. So you see Lisa, our situations aren't different at all. We both have a lot to gain and even more to lose with the secrets we keep."

Lisa glared at him, feeling as if he were patronizing her by explaining himself. "Look Bob, I'm willing to stay silent about your past, but you're making it a tad difficult for me to believe you have no evil ulterior motive when you're holding my own secret over my head."

"Professor Sullivan, if you please. I am your teacher after all." Bob corrected her as he got out of his seat and stood before Lisa. "And there is no 'evil ulterior motive' with the agreement plan I have in store for us. As long as the terms are being followed, nothing bad should happen to either party."

"What kind of terms exactly?" Lisa asked skeptically.

"Think of this as a sort of 'quid pro quo' type of agreement." Bob explained. "The basic gist being this: You keep quiet about my true identity and in turn I won't say anything about yours. No authorities will be involved, we carry on as usual in a normal student-teacher relationship and then once you've graduated from here, we move on with our lives and never darken the other's doorstep again."

"That sounds simple and reasonable enough." Lisa thought to herself before asking. "So what's the catch?"

"Oh nothing too big or incriminating…except for perhaps this."

Bob then walked back over to his desk towards his computer. Lisa's pulse rate jumped for a moment as Bob's hand lingered near the gun-shaped cannon but then calmed when she saw him grab the computer mouse instead. Quickly he clicked a few things and pulled something out of his hard drive, holding it up for her to see.

"This USB flash drive that I hold in my hand contains our entire conversation, which I have been recording."

Lisa stopped breathing for a moment at she looked at the drive, realizing now why Bob had wanted to get her alone. "You recorded our- why would you do that!?"

"Think of it as collateral, pertaining to our mutual agreement." Bob said, clasping the drive in his hand. "You see Lisa, I'm not as foolish as I once was. I know better than to hinge my entire career on the word of a Simpson. So I came up with this plan as a means of protecting myself and guaranteeing your silence. The big 'catch' you speak of is this: Should you do anything to violate the terms of our agreement, including talking to your schoolmates, invading my privacy or threatening my personal safety, this flash drive will be mailed straight to the local authorities by way of the sheriff's department."

Lisa looked at Bob in horror. "But that's stupid! We both admitted to having double lives during that conversation. You'd be exposing yourself as well as me!"

"Perhaps. But then again, thanks to the wonders of modern computer technology, I could easily just edit out the bits of me admitting my guilt and simply leave in yours. And once they drag up that unfortunate alligator incident with your father, they won't believe or care what you have to say against me."

"Wait…how did you know about that?" Lisa asked.

"I googled the words 'Homer Simpson' and literally thousands of news article popped up within seconds. I had to add the words 'Florida' and 'Driving' just to narrow it down a bit and the gator incident was among the first hundred to show up. Trust me, it didn't take much time or effort to find the sheriff's report and deduce why you and your family are banned from this state."

A worried look crossed Lisa's face as she eyed the flash drive with desperation, knowing that if anyone heard its contents, her college career would be over. She watched as Bob put the device in his pocket and began walking calmly around her chair.

"Luckily, I am a fair and reasonable man. I realize that, whether we like it or not, you and I will still have to deal with each other during classes for the next two semesters. And given how you are part of the work study program, you will need my unbiased approval to get into Stanford. I give you my word as an educator that you shall receive it…provided that you remember to behave yourself and hold that loose tongue of yours. Hopefully in time, we can learn to trust each other like mature adults."

Lisa glared up at Bob as he circled around her like a shark hunting its prey, his derogatory statements and pompous flaunting of his authority starting to wear on her temper.

"And…if you do indeed hold up your end of the bargain by the time you leave school, I shall return the flash drive personally to you as a sign of good faith." Bob continued. "Till then, it shall remain in my possession and mine alone. Let it be known though, that I do intend to keep a very close eye on it as well as you…in case there's any funny business…"

"Enough!" Tired of being talked down to, Lisa stood up angrily with her fists clenched tight. "I'm sick of you judging me based on my past actions! For god's sake, I was just a naïve little girl then! Why are you even treating me this way to begin with? I've never wished any ill will on you nor have I ever been intentionally malicious towards you! And yet you're treating me like I'm some sort of…like I'm a-"

"A criminal?" Bob asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lisa went to respond but found herself speechless.

"Because that is exactly how you would treat me in this situation, had our roles been reversed." Bob said, stopping in front of her. "Don't pretend to think otherwise. I can tell from the way you look at me that you still view me as the homicidal maniac who would gut you with a knife the first chance he got. Perception can be such a hard thing to change sometimes Lisa. Even now, as I look upon you sitting here in my office, I still see you as the little girl who, along with her dastardly devil of a brother, completely ruined my life, stranding me in a life of crime and seclusion, whose negative influences and repercussions I'm still feeling years later!"

Lisa could sense Bob's anger starting to flare up but she didn't care. She was tired of his threats and stood her ground.

"Yeah well I got news for you BOB. I'm not that frightened little girl you thought you could scare into hiding anymore, and I will not let my old fear of you run my life! You say we need to learn to trust each other, but how is that even possible when all I've ever heard you speak are carefully crafted lies?"

Bob glared at her, his fingers flexing restlessly as if he were itching to punch or strangle something. Noticing his reflexes, Lisa stayed a small distance away but stood her ground.

"For instance, how do I know this whole agreement of yours isn't just another one of your tricks?" Lisa continued. "How do I know you won't just mail the flash drive on a random day to spite me?And how do I know you won't try to kill me the first chance you get? If anything, I should be the one in charge of holding that flash drive, as I've proven myself way more trustworthy then the likes of you!"

Bob clenched the device in his hand, his irritation and anger no longer hidden.

"How dare you accuse me of such lowly, dishonest deception! You have the gall to make me out as the villain all while acting as the innocent party? After everything you and your family of blithering uncouth buffoons have cost me, I'm to consider you trustworthy? Ha, please! You don't fool me one bit Lisa Simpson. I know you want to turn me in, just like you've done many times before. All you need is motive and opportunity. I may have been a criminal but at least I have admitted and owed up to the horrible things I've done. So let me make these words perfectly clear to you: Until you prove to me that you can truly be trusted, this flash drive shall remain in my possession, and I will not hesitate to mail it should you make any attempt to destroy what I've tried rebuilding for myself. Let it be known that this time, if I go down, be damn sure I will take you with me!"

Lisa recoiled slightly as Bob stared down at her, her child-like fear returning as she spotted that familiar murderous glint in his eyes. For the first time in years, she saw the old Sideshow Bob fighting to re-emerge and her instincts were telling her to run. However she remained rooted to spot, even though her thoughts were now growing fuzzy.

"Yeah well I…you…"

As she started to sway uneasily from side to side, Bob's look of anger was promptly replaced with concern. "Lisa?"

With a groan, Lisa lost her balanced and started to fall backwards. Bob reacted quickly and managed to catch her before she hit the floor. He eased her onto the ground and propped her into a sitting position. Lisa shook her head, trying to regain her focus but found that it was starting to throb again. "Medicine…please…"

Bob looked around and spotted Lisa's bag on the chair. Rummaging through the pockets, he found the aspirin the nurse gave her along with an unopened bottle of water. Bob handed them both to Lisa, who quickly chugged down the pills and began hoisting herself back up.

"Will you be alright? Do you want me to escort you back to the nurse?" Bob asked.

"I'll be fine. Just need to wait a few minutes till the room stops spinning." Lisa replied groggily as she sat back on the chair with her head between her legs.

Bob remained kneeling by her chair, waiting patiently in case she keeled over again. Seeing her sitting there, trying to be strong despite her condition, surprisingly made him feel a little guilty. He had taken advantaged of Lisa in her vulnerable state in order to make his terms known and had let things become so heated it almost caused her further harm. Something he had promised not to do.

"Look I'm…sorry for letting my personal feelings get out of hand. It was unfair of me to judge you solely by the actions from your youth. I of all people should know what that's like…"

"It's okay Bob-, I mean Professor." Lisa said wearily, her head hanging low. "I don't blame you for not trusting me. I did ruin your life in Italy after all, and any chance you had at a happy existence. Even I wouldn't trust me after that."

Bob wasn't sure how to respond, as it was partially true, and just stayed silent as Lisa slowly went back to her chair, her hands in her lap as she continued not to look at him.

"However, if you give me this chance to make things right, I'm willing to follow the terms of your agreement and will continue keeping your secret safe. I owe you that much."

Hearing her words, Bob calmed down and took a deep breath. "That sounds splendid Lisa. So…we have reached an agreement then?"

"There is one thing though." Lisa then looked up at him, he eyes slightly misty from the pain in her head. "I insist that you get rid of that flash drive. Having a physical piece of evidence like that lingering around will only increase our chances of getting found out, and I know I'd sleep much better knowing it didn't exist."

Bob paused for a moment to consider her request but shook his head and stood up straight, towering over her once more. "I'm sorry Lisa, but I can't do that. Believe it or not, having something like this flash drive on hand would indeed help me to sleep better. I'm still not ready to trust you quite yet and having something like this gives me a small peace of mind."

Bob then walked back to his desk, took the flash drive out of his pocket, put it in the top drawer and locked it with his key. "I assure you that it will be safe with me. As stated in my terms, you will get the flash drive back when I deem the time right. But for now, you'll just have to live with the knowledge of its existence and trust me to protect it."

Lisa looked at the locked drawer, as if considering her options, but seemed too worn out to argue. "Very well then. But there is another condition I'd like to add instead."

"Which would be?" Bob asked.

"I'm aware that things will be uneasy between us for a while, so I kindly ask that no matter what future tiffs we may have, you leave all animosity and ill-bred emotions out of my school work. I am still your student after all and as such, I want to be graded fairly and accurately based on my work and performance and not because of our past discrepancies." Lisa said, remembering her encounter with Prof. Cantwell.

"Well that goes without saying. But if it eases your mind, then yes, I do promise to grade and treat you like any other student in my class. Provided you show me the same respect and courtesy you do your other teachers." Bob said, placing his hand over his heart.

Lisa took a deep breath and stood up, holding up her hand out towards Bob. "Deal."

Bob looked her over for a moment then grasped her hand. "Deal."

The two shook hands, holding on a second longer than necessary. Once they broke apart, Bob walked to the door and opened it for her. "You're free to go now. Your friend should still be in the cafeteria just down the hall if you want to meet with her. If you need me to, I can escort you there."

"I'll be okay." Lisa said, grabbing her bag. "I just hope my next professor isn't as harsh when it comes to tardiness as my first one was…"

"Speaking of which," Bob then turned and grabbed two pieces of paper off his desk, which he wrote two short notes on. "As promised, here's a late note for your next class and an excused note for classes you may want to skip tonight. If I were you, I would consider taking it easy after all that's happened today."

"Thank you." Lisa took the notes and walked out of the office. She then paused and turned to see Bob about to shut the door behind her.

"You're wrong by the way."

Bob paused as he noticed Lisa looking at him. "Beg pardon?"

"You were wrong about me wanting to turn you in. If that were the case, I would've told the police how you escaped all those years ago. But I didn't because…I considered you a friend… as I thought you considered me. I wanted to see you get away safely and start a new happier life. Part of me still hopes that you do…"

She paused for a moment, gave him a sad sincere look, and started heading down the hall towards the cafeteria. Bob watched as she walked away, thinking over what she just said, and then quickly locked the door behind him. He let out an exhausted sigh and collapsed into his chair, thinking back over their conversation. Perhaps he had been too harsh on Lisa during their encounter. After all, she really wasn't anything like Bart, who would've jumped at any chance to make Bob's life miserable. However, he rationalized that it was the most effective way to get his point across and guarantee that she wouldn't talk. Hopefully with time, they'd grow to at least be on civil if not friendly terms once more. One thing was certain though, if the spiky haired demon in his dreams didn't keep him awake that night, then re-imagining the frightened look on Lisa's face would.

* * *

Chapter 4 to be coming soon! Stay tuned!


	4. Hidden Agendas

Just wanted to say a quick thanks to all those who faved and reviewed this story so far. Your words of encouragement help me greatly :)

* * *

Chapter 4: Hidden Agendas

"So….what's the deal with what happened earlier?"

It was night time and Lisa and Janey were in their dorm trying to work on homework. While Lisa had managed to get through her other two classes without incident, she started feeling dizzy again towards the end and had to have Janey escort her back to their room. After popping two pain pills and keeping an ice pack pressed against her head, Lisa finally felt well enough to start doing school work. Although her new school books hadn't arrived yet, she was determined to stay on top of her assignments and copied off of notes and books she borrowed from Janey and the library.

Janey meanwhile, had been quiet since the incident in class and had not asked Lisa a single question while she attended her lessons. Now that they were alone, she was bursting with curiosity (as well as desperate for a distraction from homework) and begging for an explanation.

"Come on Lisa, just tell me! What happened in class today?"

"Please Janey, I'd rather not relive that embarrassing experience" Lisa said, trying to change the subject as she struggled to write her paper.

"But I have to tell the students something. They keep asking me strange questions like whether you were on drugs or seeing dead people or something like that."

Lisa tried ignoring her but soon found that she couldn't concentrate on her work. "Oh, who and I kidding? I can't stop thinking about it. The way I freaked out in the middle of class…the other students must think I'm insane."

"Well from what I overheard, only a couple of people think you're insane…though that Fredrick guy kept insisting that you have some sort of Tourette syndrome." Janey said thinking back.

Lisa groaned and moved the ice pack to her forehead, which began to throb painfully.

"I meant to ask by the way, who is Sideshow?" Janey asked.

Lisa froze and looked up. "What are you talking about?"

"Before you fell over, you yelled out 'Sideshow'. Is that a person or something? It sounds familiar…"

"Um, sideshow is…uhh…"

Quickly, Lisa tried wracking her brain for a decent explanation to tell Janey who waited patiently with anticipation. While she wanted to tell her the truth of what really happened in class, she remembered her agreement with Bob and what would happen if she broke it. Squeezing her eyes shut, Lisa was finally able to think straight.

"Yes I was talking about a Sideshow…Sideshow Mel in fact. You remember him, the sidekick from the Krusty the Klown show we used to watch as kids."

"Oh yeah, I think I remember. Was he that guy with the bone in his hair that was always getting knives thrown at him? Didn't he die during Krusty's last episode?"

"Yep, that's him alright." Lisa nodded. "Poor Sideshow Mel…"

"So what, you were daydreaming about him or something?" Janey asked. "That's a weird thing to do…"

"No, not him particularly. More like I was...daydreaming about that tragic episode. When I thought back to that botched sketch where he was horribly mauled by those circus dogs, that's when I shouted out in class. Guess it must've traumatized me more then I realize."

"That's some pretty deep daydreaming Lise." Janey admitted. "Gotta say, I originally thought you were yelling it at Prof. Sullivan. You seemed so entranced by him when he walked in the room…"

Lisa laughed nervously and cleared her throat. "I can assure you, it was just a daydream. I mean, I've never even seen Prof. Sullivan before today…."

"Oh man you should've been there to see him teach Lise. Prof. Sullivan's a genius! He repeated the entire Raven poem from memory!" Janey gushed. "And you should've seen how attentive he was after you hurt yourself. So gentle and caring… such attractive qualities…"

Lisa raised an eyebrow at Janey, who wore a goofy smile till she noticed Lisa's glare. "What? I can daydream too can't I?"

Lisa rolled her eyes at her friend before shifting her ice pack around her neck. "Look I don't want to talk about this anymore. Can we just get back to doing homework?"

The two sat in silence as Janey reluctantly went back to doing her own homework. However, Lisa found she still couldn't concentrate. The only thing on her mind was the conversation she had with Sideshow Bob and the flash drive currently sitting in his desk drawer with the incriminating evidence on it.

Despite all they had discussed, Lisa still did not trust Bob. She could tell during their encounter that he was struggling to suppress his old homicidal urges, no doubt made worse by her unexpected presence and his everlasting grudge against her family. All it would take was one heated escalation and Bob was sure to snap and revert back into his evil ways. Then everyone she knew and cared about would be in danger, including herself. And given that she was in hiding, she couldn't count on law enforcement to help her stop him. With so much at stake, Lisa knew the only way she'd be able to keep everyone safe was by getting the flash drive away from Bob, to prevent any sort of temptation on his end. If she could only get her hands on it without him knowing, then she could protect both their secrets properly without the threat of the homicidal ex-clown returning, ready to strike at a moment's notice. But to do that, she'd need help.

"Um, Janey? I…uh…"

"Need a new ice pack Lisa?" Janey asked looking up from her homework. "There should be one in the cooler…"

"No it's not that. I…I need your help with something else."

Curious, Janey abandoned her homework and walked over to Lisa's desk. "What is it?"

Lisa sat up and looked at her friend, choosing her next words very carefully.

"I need you to help me get into Prof. Sullivan's office."

Janey scoffed. "That's easy. Just wait till tomorrow and I'll escort you there."

"Not like that. I mean…get in without him knowing."

Janey's mouth fell open. "What? Why?"

"Just hear me out. Before I met up with you at lunch, Prof. Sullivan invited me into his office to…discuss a few things. Somehow during our talk, he got me to reveal my secret."

Janey gasped. "He knows your real name? How'd he get you to spill that?"

"It doesn't matter how." Lisa shook her head. "What does matter is that not only does he know my secret, but he recorded me telling it. Even worse, he refuses to let me keep the recording which he saved on one of his flash drives."

"Eww that's creepy." Janey cringed. "Wait, why was he recording your conversation in the first place?"

"Um…he said it…helps him remember things better." Lisa said thinking quickly.

"Of course! That's how he memorizes all those poems!" Janey exclaimed. "So what, did he threaten to squeal on you or something?"

"No not exactly." Lisa admitted. "He just said he would hold onto the drive for his records, but I don't think he'll be able to watch over it properly. I know it sounds dumb but I would feel much better if the recording were kept safe in my possession. It should still be in his office and with a little time and planning, I can get to it without him ever knowing."

"Lise, I think you hit your head harder then you thought." Janey said in a concerned tone. "You're talking about breaking into a Professor's office and stealing his personal property. We could both be expelled for that sort of thing."

"Not if we don't get caught." Lisa said, adding a serious tone in her voice. "Look, I know where the drive is and all I need is time to get it. I'll be in and out in ten minutes tops. The only thing I need you to do is distract him for that length of time. Think you can do that?"

Janey looked uncertain. "I don't know Lise…its one thing to keep your real name a secret but helping you with breaking and entering…that's just going too far."

Lisa thought quickly then added. "What if I did your homework from one of your hardest classes for the whole week? And wrote your first term paper for you? Would you consider doing it then?"

Janey pondered for a moment then smiled. "Make it two term papers and you got yourself a deal."

Lisa perked up and shook hands with Janey. With the agreement made, the two girls spent the rest of the night forming their plan to break into Prof. Sullivan's office.

* * *

"_**My heart skipped with the fright, blinked my eyes to better see, glanced back with all my might, parted he my company. My chest was quickly pounding still, the angel of death at his kill."**_

It was the next day and Lisa and Janey were sitting in class listening to Prof. Sullivan recite another poem. He had chosen as their first assignment, the task of creating a poem based on the subject of fear. Just like when he was reciting Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Raven', now he was quoting the other poems based on fear, such as 'Angel of Death' by Udiah.

"_**I did rise and take flight, the fear made me to flee, from darkness into light, to free captivity. Unbinding my soul from his will, the angel of death at his kill."**_

"See? I told you he was good." Janey whispered over to Lisa.

Lisa however, wasn't paying any attention as she kept her focus on the clock, which was five minutes away from signaling the end of class. She stared at it with uncertainty, wondering if the risk she was taking was really worth it. She could be expelled if caught and so would Janey. But then she thought back to Bob and the murderous glint in his eyes when he threatened to expose her. The way she saw it, it was either risk expulsion or take her chances with an attempted murderer.

"_**Many years since that night, gazed I on that brazen be, memories of still incite, fears of my slavery. Existence of him makes me ill, the angel of death at his kill…**_end poem."

Most the students, who had been watching and listening to Prof. Sullivan, let out a series of impressed applause.

"Thank you dear students, your enthusiasm is always appreciated." Prof. Sullivan said, bowing humbly before them. "I hope that poem helped set the stage for your willing young minds to create some finely written works, expressing your deepest, most darkest fears."

He then heard a loud scoff and turned his attention to a dark haired boy sitting near the back, who wore his cap backwards and was leaning back on his chair with one leg resting atop his school book.

"That poem was lame, just like the others you quoted. I can write a much scarier, much gorier poem about fear where stuff actually happens."

"Poetry is not about reciting physical gory detail Fredrick." Prof. Sullivan said to him. "It's about creating atmosphere, the setting the mood and tone, and re-creating the emotional state of mind in which one would experience them…and would you please get your foot off the desk, this isn't your dorm room."

"Whatever. Class is about to end anyway." Fredrick said, taking his foot off his book and shoving it back into his bag.

"Speaking of which," Prof. Sullivan then raised his hands up for everyone to see. "Class before you leave, a quick announcement. As some of you may or may not know, I run the schools organic vegetable garden in the third greenhouse out in the west courtyard. While I normally handle everything myself, a few added responsibilities will prevent me from giving it my full attention this year. As such, I ask that anyone who is interested in becoming my assistant and helping me with the care and maintenance of the garden, please stop by my office sometime after class. Any student of mine who helps out will receive extra credit on their next assignment."

The bell then rang loudly and all the students quickly began packing up their bags before racing out the door.

"And don't forget your poetry assignments due next week!" Prof. Sullivan called out before heading back to his desk to gather his things.

"Now's our chance Janey." Lisa whispered. "You distract him for the next ten minutes while I grab the flash drive. I'll text you once I'm successful."

"I'm not sure about this Lisa. What if he catches on? What if you don't find it in time?" Janey asked, suddenly nervous.

"As long as you're calm and don't say anything, he won't know what we're doing. And if I need more time, I'll just text you the words 'Plan B' and you create the distraction we discussed."

Janey gulped. "Okay then…" She then got up and walked down the steps towards Prof. Sullivan who had just closed his briefcase.

"Excuse me, Prof. Sullivan? Can you spare a few minutes, I have some questions about the assignment."

"Well I do need to be somewhere later on, but I suppose I can spare five minutes." He then sat back down and unclasped his briefcase.

Janey glanced anxiously back at Lisa, who nodded that she heard the length of her time frame. Once they both had their backs turned, Lisa quickly ran out of the classroom and down the hall towards Prof. Sullivan's office.

She had barely turned a corner when she found her path blocked by Fredrick.

"Hey there Goldie locks." He said in a sly cocky tone. "About time we were formally introduced. Fredrick St. Banks the Third, but my friends call me Freddy. I couldn't help but notice how quiet you were today in class. Did you get over your Tourette's or something?"

Lisa looked at him in annoyance. "Not to rush your obvious attempt at flattery, but I am in a hurry to get somewhere."

"Come on, you can't spare just five minutes for Freddy? I was hoping we could grab lunch so we could get…better acquainted." He then wiggled his eyebrows up and down while shooting her a wide toothy smile.

"I'll have to take a rain check on that as I really need to go-"

"What if I said pretty please with sugar on top?" He said moving closer to her as he blocked more of her path.

Realizing she he wasn't going to let up, Lisa thought fast. "I think that I would say- GAH! There's a spider on your shirt!"

"What? Where?" Fredrick looked down at his shirt and around his body for signs of the arachnid.

"Oh god, now it's climbing up your sleeve!" Lisa exclaimed pointing at his arm.

"Ah get it off!" Fredrick began vigorously brushing off both arms and was tearing at his sleeves.

"Eww now it's crawled onto your back!" Lisa yelled.

Fredrick then started taking his shirt off but it got caught around his head. "Help! I'm stuck!"

As Fredrick flailed helpless around, Lisa took her opportunity and fled down the hall away from the commotion.

It wasn't long before she finally made it to Prof. Sullivan's office which was of course locked. Checking her watch, she was annoyed to see that she lost two of the minutes she had and cursed Fredrick under her breath. Wanting to waste no more time, Lisa looked around to make sure there was no one else watching and took a hairpin out of her hair.

"Ohh, I hope I remember the technique Bart showed me." She said worriedly as she began picking the lock on the door. After nearly a minute, she heard a clicking noise. Throwing opened the door, she quickly went inside, making sure to lock the door behind her.

She turned around to look at Bob's mostly dark office. Using her phone as a flashlight, Lisa went over to the drawer she saw Bob put the flash drive in and went to work on picking the lock. After a few minutes, she got it open but was surprised to find that there was nothing inside of it.

"But...it was right here!"

Thinking she may have gotten the wrong drawer, she quickly started rummaging through his other desk drawers but found no flash drives in any of them. She then examined his computer and looked in all its slots, but still there was nothing. She then went through his file cabinets, checked his coat pockets and even looked into a jar of hard candies that he had on his desk. Again, she came up empty handed.

"Where could it be?" she wondered. Suddenly her phone started vibrating. She looked at it and gasped as she read a text from Janey.

'He's Coming Ur Way!'

Immediately Lisa closed up all the drawers and went to head out the door when she heard loud approaching footsteps followed by the sound of jiggling keys. Panicking, Lisa looked around the office for a spot to hide. Slowly the knob started to jiggle as one of the keys worked its way into the slot. Realizing there was nowhere else to go, Lisa dove under the desk and pulled the chair in behind her just as the door started to open. She hunched herself underneath, which wasn't hard as the desk had a lot of leg room, and remained still as she saw the lights came on.

"Honestly, do they let any student apply to Stanford now?" Bob grumbled as he walked into his office, closing the door behind him. "Seriously, how many ways can a man possibly describe what a sonnet is?"

Lisa held her breath as Bob slammed his briefcase onto his desk and watched as his shadow walked toward the coat rack where he started to change jackets. He then went over to his filing cabinet and began pulling out large stacks of papers which he quickly started clipping together and put into folders.

"Great. Now I'm late to set up for the department heads meeting. I'll never hear the end of this…" As Bob went to grab more pins, he paused. He then looked over at his filing cabinet, where the bottom drawer was wide open.

"That's odd…I don't remember going into my financial files this morning…"

Lisa felt a chill go down her spine. In her haste, she had forgotten to close one of the drawers she had opened and waited with baited breath as Bob began looking around his office for anything else that seemed out of order.

After a few moments of silence, she heard Bob shout "AHA! I knew it!"

Lisa's heart stopped beating as Bob walked toward the desk.

"That damn janitor has been stealing my candy again!" He then picked up some assortments of wrapped candies that had spilled on his desk from when Lisa rummaged through them. "Oh he will get his. Let's see how much he likes my taffy chews when I replace them with jaw breakers!"

Lisa quietly exhaled in relief. That breath was quickly sucked back in as the drawer above her head slid out. She heard Bob rummaging through it muttering. "Now where did I put the rest of those paper clips?"

As Lisa sat frozen in place, she glanced up behind the desk drawer and was surprised to see the flash drive taped to the back of the drawer. She went to go reach for it but nearly had her hand crushed when the door was pushed back in, causing her to gasp and flinch back in pain.

Bob closed the drawer and paused. "What was that?"

Holding her hand to her mouth, Lisa tried desperately to stop herself from screaming in pain as Bob pulled his drawer back out and in, trying to determine the source of the noise. He was about to lean over when his unlocked door burst opened.

"Robert there you are!" Ms. Cantwell exclaimed walking into his office. "You were supposed to be in the discussion room setting up for the meeting five minutes ago! Do you have any idea how important this is? The dean is on his way right now!"

"I was just on my way there now Tina, I just got a little distracted." Bob glared up at her as he pushed his drawer back in.

"This isn't the time for distractions! Don't forget, the dean wants us to go over the entire curriculum along with details of future meetings, charity events and fundraisers. Oh, and don't forget the holiday staff party."

"It's all here in the folders I've printed up at the library." Bob said holding up one of the folders containing a stack of clipped together papers. "I just need to add in one additional flyer and the curriculum should be completed. Although I don't see why you couldn't do all this yourself when you have a working printer…"

"I didn't want to waste the ink." Ms. Cantwell shrugged. "Besides I'll need it to print out my new bonus checks once the dean see's all the good work we've been doing together."

"Yes, that 'we' have been doing…speaking of which, when will I be seeing my check for all this work?" Bob asked. "You said you'd give me half of your bonus if I organized this meeting for you and so far I think I've more then delivered."

"Of course." Ms. Cantwell nodded. "You'll get your first payment in two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Bob asked, suddenly concerned. "Um…is that the earliest you can expect the check to arrive?"

"It's the earliest you can expect me to pay you." Ms. Cantwell said crossing her arms. "That's assuming tonight's meeting goes off without a hitch."

"Sorry Tina, it's just that I have a certain…expense …that needs to be paid off by a certain time and if I don't deliver, well, bad things could happen…"

"I see…let me guess, IRS agents hunting you down for unpaid student loans?" Ms. Cantwell asked with an amused laugh. "Well sorry to say there's nothing I can do that will make the check appear any faster. You'll just have to make due for now. But if all goes well, I'll make sure you get your half first thing that morning."

Bob let out a reluctant sigh. "Thank you Tina…listen, before we head to the meeting, is it all right if I make a quick phone call? I swear it'll be only five minutes more."

"You got three." Ms. Cantwell said sternly and left the room.

Bob quickly locked the door behind her and made his way back to his desk. Lisa, who had been hoping for Bob to leave with Ms. Cantwell, immediately started panicking and quickly texted the words 'Plan B' back to Janey.

Bob however, passed his desk and went the coat rack where he took a cell phone out the pocket of his other jacket. He dialed in a number and waited as the phone rang. After a couple of rings, a female voice answered speaking quickly in a foreign language, followed shortly by a loud beeping noise.

"Hello Francesca, it's me Robert…" Bob said rather glumly. "I was hoping to speak to you directly but this voice mail will have to do for now…I just wanted to let you know that my alimony payment will be a little late this month due to a series of delays which I assure you, is a one-time occurrence and not an indication of any habit or spite."

Lisa's ears perked up as she suddenly became curious. If memory served her right, Bob was talking to his wife from Italy. Or should she say, judging by the contents of his message, his ex-wife.

"If you would kindly inform your father of the situation and ask him not to send any of his goons to my doorstep like last year, I promise you will have your money in two weeks' time. Call me if there are any problems and please…give my love to Gino…Grazie."

Bob then shut off his phone and let out a stressed sigh, squeezing the bridge of his nose between his fingertips. He then looked over at his stack of folders and picked up the flyer. "Better make copies of these now while I have the chance. Least the Xerox machine is just down the hall."

Grabbing his keys, Bob quickly headed out the room leaving the folders and his briefcase behind.

Lisa waited a few moments to make sure he wouldn't come back immediately and then carefully pushed out the desk drawer, revealing the flash drive taped behind it. Slipping it out of the tape, she quickly switched it out with her blank drive, pocketed the real flash drive and got out from under the desk. After making sure to leave the office as she found it, she went to the door and cracked it slightly, waiting for a couple of students to pass before quickly slipping back out into the hall. Closing the door behind her, Lisa let out a sigh of relief. She had done it. The flash drive was now safely in her possession.

"Can I help you Ms. Thompson?"

Lisa nearly had a heart attack as she turned to see Sideshow Bob walking down the hall towards her, a stack of flyers in hand. "May I ask what it is you're doing outside my office and with such a guilty look on your face?"

Lisa's heart raced as she tried desperately to come up with an excuse. "I was…I was just…"

She then noticed one of his flyers that read, 'Gardener Assistant wanted. Will Receive Extra Credit. Please Inquire with Prof. Robert Sullivan.' and quickly got an idea.

"Was just…looking for you Professor Sullivan. I wanted to...inquire about the assistant gardener position."

A look of surprise appeared on Bob's face before he eyed her with suspicion. "I see…and what may I ask brought about this decision? Last I checked I wasn't exactly your favorite person to work with…"

"Well it's just…" Lisa said, thinking quickly. "You did say in class we'd receive extra credit. And I am a sucker for extra credit. Plus I do have some gardening and farming experience, I've grown organic vegetables as part of a project for my high school science honor class, and I'm a vegetarian. I'm a triple threat!" she laughed awkwardly.

Bob glared suspiciously at her as she continued to hold her fake smile. He then moved toward his office door and attempted to open it but it was locked, as Lisa had made sure to turn the safety lock when she left.

Seemingly convinced she hadn't been inside, he nodded curtly toward her. "Very well then Lisa. If you're serious about applying for the position, you will meet me in the third West Courtyard Greenhouse this Saturday for instruction."

He then handed her one of the flyers containing all the info. "Be there at ten o clock sharp and make sure to wear work clothes or anything you won't mind getting dirty. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to get to." Bob then took out his keys and unlock the door before disappearing into his office.

Lisa quickly raced down the hall and out of sight around the corner before letting out a sigh of relief. "That was close…too close…but hopefully now with the drive in my possession, there won't be any more crazy surprises."

As soon as she said it, the fire alarm sounded and the sprinklers went off drenching everyone in the hallway. Several students screamed and ran in various directions while Lisa stood in one spot, a sour look on her face.

"Great timing there Janey…" Lisa grumbled as her wet hair started dripping down her face.

* * *

Well mission accomplished...or is it? Chapter 5 coming soon!


	5. Secret Suspicions

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. Got a bit of writers block plus I was busy with several ongoing video projects. As such, to make it easier on myself and to update more often, I've pre-written several random chapters and shortened them a bit to make them more manageable. Let me know if the shorter format works or if you'd rather I write the longer chapters. Anyways, enjoy the long awaited chapter.

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Chapter 5: Secret Suspicions

"Well that took forever…seriously you couldn't have waited after lunch to break into his office? I'm starving!"

"Janey, shush!" Lisa looked nervously around the cafeteria, which was mostly deserted except for three students listening to their laptops at a far off table and two lunch ladies that were too deeply engrossed in their magazines to pay attention.

"Relax, no one's gonna hear us." Janey said casually as she grabbed a lunch tray. "Besides, the firefighters are too busy trying to fix the sprinklers in the gym."

After spending nearly an hour waiting outside in the parking lot, students were finally allowed back into the school after firefighters had finished putting out a small fire in the men's bathroom. Luckily there was no damage or injuries, just a lot of confusion and wasted rolls of toilet paper. Unfortunately, classes had to be cancelled due to some of the sprinklers malfunctioning, much to the joy of the students and to the chagrin of the staff. With everyone else heading back to their homes and dorms for the day, Lisa and Janey were able to meet privately back up in the cafeteria, which remained open and relatively dry.

"You know, there wouldn't have been a need for the firefighters to come if you had stuck to my original plan." Lisa said grabbing a lunch tray.

"Hey you try setting several rolls of toilet paper on fire and throwing it through a narrow window without burning your hands off!" Janey replied following after her.

"All I asked you to do was hold a lighter up to the smoke alarm! You didn't need to actually start a fire!" Lisa exclaimed, as she made her way to the salad bar and began piling lettuce onto a plate.

"Give me a break. I couldn't reach the alarm, even when I was standing on the toilet. Speaking of which, you owe me a new pair of sneakers!" Janey said gesturing to her wet, blue stained shoes which squished along as she walked over to the snack stand to grab a tuna sandwich along with a bag of chips.

"But why the men's room?"

"I did it to throw off suspicion. Now the teachers will think a guy did it. Pretty genius right?"

Lisa rolled her eyes and went to go grab a table. Janey followed soon after and the two sat by a window, being careful to stay out of any potential earshot.

"I'm just so nervous about this whole thing. I never did any rule breaking of this magnitude. And it's only my first week of school. This feels like something Bart would do…"

"Hey you got the flash drive right? No was hurt and no one was caught, meaning it was all worth it. So relax!" Janey said as she immediately dove into her tuna sandwich.

"Perhaps you're right…" Lisa sighed, digging a fork into her salad.

"Of coursh I ham." Janey said through a mouthful of sandwich.

"But now I have another problem to worry about. I told Prof. Sullivan that I wanted to apply for the assistant gardener position on Saturday. If I don't show up he might get suspicious."

"So come up with an excuse then." Janey asked, swallowing the tuna. "Say you came down with the flu or diarrhea or something."

"Eww, no." Lisa said in disgust.

"Fine, you think of something then." Janey said, swallowing another bite of her sandwich.

"Wait, I got it!" Lisa said, a light bulb going off in her brain. "How about I show up for the first day, let him show me what needs to be done, then say that I changed my mind and can't do it. There should be other students there to help him out so it won't matter if I say no. It's perfect!"

"How do you know there's going to be others?" Janey asked. "It's not like he's holding auditions for 'So You Want to Dance with a Millionaire.' Gardening's not exactly the most fun or glamorous of after school activities."

"Well…then I'll find some people who would be interested." Lisa said with determination. "How about it Janey? It'll just be for this Saturday until we find someone more suited-"

"Sorry Lise," Janey said shaking her head as she put down her sandwich. "No can do."

"What? Why not?" Lisa asked.

"For three reasons." Janey counted off. "One, I plan on joining the fashion arts and crafts club which meets on Saturdays. Two, I just nearly set a whole bathroom on fire trying to help you out, so forgive me if I'm a little apprehensive about helping you now. And three, you seem to have forgotten that I hate vegetables."

"You wouldn't need to eat them, just learn how to take care of them for one day." Lisa explained.

"Sorry Lise but I'm putting my foot down this time." Janey said crossing her arms. "I can't even stand looking at vegetables, much less faking an interest in wanting to actually grow them."

"Well that's a shame." Lisa said sticking her fork into her salad. "Because you could really benefit from the crisp, refreshing taste of a veggie or two."

She then ate a mouthful of salad and immediately spat it out. "Oh GROSS! Ugh, this salad taste like Saran wrap!"

"That's probably cause there's some in it." Janey said, picking out a piece of the clear flimsy plastic.

"Oh yuck, it's mixed in with all this wilted lettuce!" Lisa exclaimed dropping her fork and picking through the salad. "And look at the state of these other vegetables! There tomatoes are rotten, the carrots are dried out and the mushrooms are growing mushrooms!"

"So much for crisp and refreshing…"Janey said looking at the unappetizing piece of mushroom with three tiny heads growing out the two large heads protruding from its stalk.

"I'm getting to the bottom of this!" Lisa said getting up and going to the register where the cashier had her back turned.

"Excuse me but I have to talk to- Nurse Gale?"

"Oh hello there Lisa." Nurse Gale said as she clipped a name tag onto her shirt. "Fancy seeing you here. How's the noggin? Better I presume?"

"Yes, very much so." Lisa said, looking at her with confusion. "Forgive me but I thought you were the school nurse?"

"Oh I am. And a lunch lady." She said putting on a hairnet. "I get two paychecks this way."

"I see." Lisa said uneasily. "Listen I hate to bother you, but I need to voice my outrage to someone over this horrendously kept salad bar. Everything is either dried out or rotten and I'm sure violates several health codes."

"Sorry Lisa but having freshly kept vegetables is more of a luxury then a mandate for us." Nurse Gale explained. "Such a shame considering how much healthier it would be for the students. Alas, the school can't find it in the budget to have the trucks deliver the fresh stuff on a weekly basis, but since we're required to have a vegetarian option, we get one produce truck that delivers every other week. If I were you, I'd only eat here on the second and fourth Tuesday every month for the actual fresh stuff."

"But what am I to eat on the other days? Everything else here has meat or some meat like substance added into it." Lisa protested.

"Well we got vending machines. And these peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." Nurse Gale said holding up a tightly wrapped sandwich. "I'll give you this one free of charge, seeing how your salad was less then edible."

Lisa reluctantly took the sandwich, which looked about as appetizing as the three headed mushroom. "Thanks…I guess I'll learn to live off this for the next couple of months."

Lisa then returned to her seat, annoyed and angry at having her meal options once again limited. It was like being back at Springfield Elementary all over again.

"Cheer up Lise, I'm sure there's other restaurants and stores nearby you can buy food from aren't a half hour drive from campus." Janey said, digging into her chips. "Worst case scenario, you can work for Prof. Sullivan and have him pay you in carrots."

"Haha, very funny." Lisa sneered, taking a moment to stare at her sandwich before unwrapping it and taking a very hesitant bite. She immediately recoiled and had to force herself to swallow it. She then quickly grabbed a water bottle and immediately chugged it down to get the horrid taste out of her mouth.

"And on that note, I think I'll be living off vending machines for a while…got any change for a ten?"

Just then, an alarm went off followed by the sprinkler system.

"Not again!" Janey cried out as she and Lisa raced out of the cafeteria along with the other students and cafeteria staff, trying to dodge the downpour. Two firefighters appeared at the entrance, glancing up at the malfunctioning sprinklers which began emitting sparks and burst into flames.

"I told you not to cut the blue wire!" said one firefighter, slapping the other upside his head.

* * *

The rest of the school week continued to go by horribly for Lisa. Not only was her diet now restricted by what she could afford at the vending machines, but her school career was already off to a bad start as well. Her new school books, which she had to order second hand through the school website, had still not arrived and were causing her to fall slightly behind on her homework. This gave Prof. Cantwell, who was always looking for ways to humiliate Lisa, a chance to single her out and use her as an example of 'poor planning and work ethics'.

"But I didn't know I was going to this school till last week!" Lisa protested.

"Well that's what you get for not assuming things ahead of time!" Prof. Cantwell snapped as she stamped a big zero onto her essay sheet.

Then, presumably just to spite Lisa, she assigned a paper on the first four chapters of the book due the following week. Things were made worse by the fact that Janey, who wasn't as quick a study as Lisa, had dropped Cantwell's class in favor of another easier course and had already sold her book by the time Lisa found out hers wouldn't be arriving on time. Her other professors were more understanding of her situation but refuse to change the due dates on their assignments and instead told her to just borrow study material from her fellow classmates. Unfortunately, many of them were less then helpful and mostly avoided Lisa based on rumors spread by Fredrick, who continued to straddle the line between bulling her and hitting on her, neither of which she welcomed.

"Think I liked you better when you were shouting nonsense at the teacher." Fredrick scoffed, knocking Lisa's papers to the ground after she rejected his lunch date offer for the third time that week.

Ironically, the only class in which she didn't have to worry was Bob's, as he didn't believe in assigning homework on the first week and provided his own reading material which he allowed the class to copy from. Yet while she was thankful for him not adding to her growing workload, Lisa couldn't help but feel uneasy whenever she sat at her desk, as she would occasionally catch him glancing in her direction, as if he were expecting her to jump up and shout again.

Unfortunately, since most of the students still thought her to be crazy, Lisa had no luck in convincing others to try out for the assistant gardener position and was now dreading the prospect that she'd have to spend Saturday alone with Bob. She thought of using her overabundance of homework as an excuse but doubted that he would believe that she, of all people, had managed to fall behind on her studies.

As Lisa poured worriedly over her poetry book, Bob glanced up her from his desk, trying to remain as inconspicuous as he could while grading papers. Turns out he was indeed watching Lisa but for different reasons. Since catching her outside his office on the day of the fire alarm, Bob had become highly suspicious of Lisa and was convinced she had tried to sneak in and steal the flash drive from him. Unfortunately he had no way of proving it, as the door had been locked when he arrived and the flash drive was still in its secret hiding spot, along with the audio files which still remained on his powered down computer. Nothing else was missing from his office that he knew of and he couldn't even check school security cameras as all the hallway cameras conveniently faced away from his door.

His suspicions were raised further when Lisa had volunteered for the assistant gardener position, as he knew that under normal circumstances, she wouldn't want to work anywhere near him. With no other students inquiring about the job, the thought of having to spend Saturday alone with Lisa filled Bob with extreme paranoia and the fear that she would unearth more hidden secrets about his past and current life. With that in mind, Bob decided to take drastic measures to ensure that wouldn't happen.

"Class before you head out, a quick announcement if I may." Bob declared standing up from his desk. "I just wanted to let those who planned on coming to the greenhouse this Saturday know that the meet up has been cancelled, as I have found someone to take over the gardening position. My apologies to those who may have had to cancel their plans to attend but do know that your interest was very much appreciated."

Bob looked around at the students, most of whom had no reaction whatsoever to this news and glanced over at Lisa, who seemed to have a strange mix of surprise and happiness on her face. His attention then immediately turned to Fredrick who was letting out obnoxiously fake cries of sadness.

"Oh noes! Gardening doody is cancelled!?" Fredrick cried out dramatically. "And I was SOO looking forward to playing in the dirty and planting pink posies with you professor! Whatever shall I do with my Saturdays now I wonder?"

"Hopefully work on your public speaking Fredrick, as your grammar and diction need much work." Bob retorted resulting in a small snickering from the class.

"Pff, whatever. Gardening's lame anyways." Fredrick scoffed as the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

As the class got up to leave, Lisa found herself breathing a sigh of relief. What luck that Bob had managed to find someone last minute to fill the position so she wouldn't have to worry about showing up. Finally, something in this horrible week had gone right for her.

"Please stop by my desk on your way out to receive your grades." Bob called out as students herded over to him to receive their graded poems.

Slinging her backpack over one shoulder, Lisa was the last in line to receive her poem, which of course had a one hundred percent grading at the top.

"Very nice job Lisa." Bob remarked handing over her paper. "Your poem on the subject of feeling trapped was quite exhilarating. That tall, lurking, knife-wielding monster you described truly gave me the shivers. May I ask what your inspiration was?"

"Oh, umm…let's just say personal experience…" Lisa said awkwardly putting away her paper. "So you got someone to help you with the garden then? That worked out pretty well for you."

"Oh yes, I got a call a few days ago from, uh…an old colleague of mine who has some gardening experience and said he would help in his spare time." Bob said, thinking quickly.

"Such a shame though, I was really looking forward to working in the garden with you." Lisa said, lying blatantly through her teeth. "Guess I'll just use the extra time to catch up on homework then."

"Well if you ever want to come and look around sometime, don't let me stop you." Bob said, trying to stay casual despite his insincerity. "The garden is open to the school after all. But please, don't let it distract you from your homework. School does come first after all."

"Oh I wouldn't dream of it." Lisa responded before a thought crossed her mind. "But I am curious though, if your friend called you a few days ago, why are you only cancelling the meet-up now. Won't it be a pain for you to take down all those flyers and inform all the students in your other classes about the cancellation? I mean the date is tomorrow after all-"

"My goodness, look at the time!" Bob said getting up quickly as he hastily began packing his briefcase. "I just remembered that I have a…a thing to get to so I really much be going. Why don't you run along now before you miss your lunch period?"

"Lunch period? Oh that's right!" Lisa said checking her phone. "I have a book I need to pick up! Gotta go, bye Professor!"

As Lisa raced out of the room, Bob quickly closed the door behind her and let out a sigh in relief. He had done it. He had come up with an excuse to get rid of Lisa. True it wasn't the best excuse and she nearly caught him lying about it, but at least now he wouldn't have to worry about her constant presence lingering over him. As far as anyone outside of Lisa's class knew, the tryouts were still on. Now if only one of his students from his other classes would show up on Saturday, he'd have one less thing to worry about. With any luck, by the beginning of next week, he'd finally have a new assistant to rely on.

* * *

Later that evening, Lisa returned to her dorm and immediately set to work on her homework, as she had finally gotten one of her new books in and was determined to catch up on one of her subjects by the end of the night. She worked diligently yet quickly as she wanted to make sure there was some free time left before Janey came back from her new night class. As the class was three hours long, this gave Lisa plenty of time to do what needed to be done.

"Finally, I'm all caught up with my Literary Theory homework." After over an hour had past, Lisa finally closed her new book and stored ten freshly written essays within her homework folder. "Let's see Cantwell try to fail me now."

Once all her work was packed away, Lisa reached into her purse and pulled out the flash drive she took from Bob's office. Because Janey was always hanging around, Lisa had been putting off listing to the recording on the device as she didn't want her overhearing Bob talking about his secret identity and thus risking her personal safety. She also didn't feel safe listing to it anywhere else on campus less she be overheard, particularly by Bob, and instead waited for the right moment to examine the device she had risked so much for.

"Alright, time to erase all the evidence." Lisa then inserted the flash drive into her laptop and clicked to begin uploading. However, instead of a list of folders, a black box appeared with the word 'Password'.

"What? Bob put a password on his flash drive?" Lisa said in surprise. "That's…actually really good thinking."

Lisa then started entering different passwords, including words like 'theater', 'musical', 'Pinafore', 'Hammerstein' as well as several variations on the words 'murder' 'crime' and' kill'. But nothing worked. Finally Lisa resorted to going on the internet to figure out to hack the drive. Unfortunately the closest thing she was able to find was how to reveal password hints. Typing in the shortcut code, Lisa was able to reveal the hint which simple read 'Favorite flower'.

"Flower? But there's at least four hundred thousand different species!" Lisa exclaimed. "How can I figure out which one Bob likes?"

She at first started racking her brain, trying to remember if Bob ever mentioned naming his favorite flower during any of their past encounter. When nothing came to mind, Lisa decided to wing it and immediately set to work, typing in every flower type she knew and then some, but none of them were accepted. After her seventy eighth attempt, she heard the door knob turn and quickly closed her laptop.

"Oh good you're here." Janey said throwing her backpack onto her bed. "Can you help me with this math homework? My professor wants me to explain and present an example of the Pythagorean Theory."

"Uh yes, sure thing." Lisa said, quickly putting aside her laptop as she went over to help Janey. "So which part is giving you trouble?"

"Um…all of it." Janey said uneasily. Lisa let out a sigh and went to work on showing her the formula.

After spending nearly an hour and a half on homework, Janey finally packed it up and went into the bathroom to prepare for bedtime, allowing Lisa to go back to her laptop.

Starring at the box still containing the word 'Password', Lisa came to the conclusion that the only way she'd be able to figure out the real password was for her to inspect the garden Bob kept and see if any clues lied there. She remembered him mentioning that the garden was free to the public and that she could visit anytime and with the Saturday meet up cancelled, it would be the perfect time for her to inspect without anyone noticing. With that in mind, Lisa went back to browsing the internet, intending to brush up on her gardening skills and knowledge, with the hope that she'd be able to spot the mysterious flower and the key to getting rid of the evidence that lingered over her once and for all.

* * *

Next chapter to come real soon! Stay tuned!


	6. Garden of Surprises

Well once again my efforts to update more frequently has been thwarted, this time due to unforeseen circumstances. Between struggling to pay rent and my grandmother passing away a few weeks ago, I've not been in the best state of mind to write, even though I mostly had this chapter finished for a while. And once I went back to writing again, I ended up surpassing my word limit resulting in this being a longer chapter. I'm not upset though as it came out better then I originally thought it would. Hopefully y'all will feel the same. Anyways, enough stalling, enjoy the chapter :)

* * *

Chapter 6: Garden of Surprises

It was around six am when the sun had risen on that bright, beautiful Saturday morning. But while birds and animals were gently being awoken from their slumber, Bob was already awake and sprawled out on his bed staring blankly at the ceiling, his eyes wide and bloodshot.

"Can't….sleep…must…sleep…..starting…now...…...blast….."

Once again he had been plagued with nightmares. Or more accurately, the same recurring nightmare with the fire, the demon and the laughter. Bob knew he should be bored of the scenario by now and have found ways to stop himself having the dream. However this time, something different happened.

He remembered running from the flames and the laughing spiky haired demon as he'd done many times before, only this time something new had caught his attention. A small fuzzy white light appeared in the distance over a lake, bright enough for him to see yet dim enough to lack detail. As he raced toward it, it started to take shape yet remained blurry despite how much closer he got to it. He reached the edge of the lake and held his hand out toward it when he felt the demon grab him from behind and drag him back down into a pit of flames, laughing all the while.

That's when Bob once again found himself sitting up in bed, drenched in a cold sweat.

After splashing some water on his face, Bob laid back down on his bed, the images in his dream replaying over in his mind. Since he knew there was no way he'd be getting back to sleep, Bob had spent his remaining time awake trying to figure out what the significance of the light was. The only thing he could come up with was that the glowing apparition couldn't be a demon, or at least not the same as the one he usual saw. While the maniacal, spikey haired, laughing terror usually filled him with fear and dread, this new presence actually felt warm and comforting. If only he could get closer to see its true form.

Hours passed and soon Bob's alarm went off. Reminded of the task ahead, he groaned wearily. The thought of all that manual labor and dirt digging only made him want to stay in bed and continue staring blankly up at the ceiling. Still, he knew he had a job to do and despite barely getting any sleep, still managed to drag himself off the covers. Changing into his gardening outfit, he then grabbed a travel mug full of coffee, added at least three shots of espresso to the brew, and started the tedious task of loading everything into his car.

* * *

It was fifteen minutes to ten when Bob arrived at the empty campus. Borrowing a wheelbarrow from the janitors shed, he unloaded all his gardening gear into it, making sure to bring extra gloves and spades for the volunteers. Taking the long way around the building, Bob soon came upon the courtyard which featured several greenhouses, most of which had either been abandoned or used as storage over the years and had since fallen into disrepair. Only one greenhouse looked presentable; the one that Bob personally maintained himself.

As he pushed the wheelbarrow towards the greenhouse, Bob spotted a figure by the door, looking into one of the windows with their back turned. Figuring it was a volunteer, Bob quickened his pace to the door.

"Hello there, I assume you've come for the gardening posit-"

The person then turned around and Bob was shocked to see it was Lisa, who looked as surprised as he did.

"Professor?"

"Lisa!" In his surprise, he had let go of the handles causing the wheelbarrow to tip over on its side and dump out its contents. "Oh darn it!"**  
**  
As Bob knelt down to pick up the supplies, Lisa cautiously made her way over. "Sorry to startle you. I didn't expect you to be here."

"The feeling is mutual." Bob grumbled as he hoisted up a bag of soil. "What are you doing here at this hour anyways? The greenhouse isn't even open yet."

"I was just…visiting is all. You did say I could." Lisa then knelt down and began helping to pick items off the ground. "I didn't want to bother you while you were working and thought that you'd taken the day off since you cancelled tryouts."

"My dear, there is no such thing as a day off when trying to maintain a vegetables garden." Bob retorted, as he hastily lifted a bag of seeds on top of the bag of soil. "It's not like plants can take a day off from growing you know…"

"Well obviously..." Lisa muttered in annoyance under her breath. She then noticed all the objects littering the ground and picked them up curiously. "Why do you have so many gloves and spades? Are you expecting a bunch of people?"

Bob paused, nervously clearing his throat as he tried thinking up a lie to tell Lisa but decided to just brush her off instead. "Look, I don't have time to chat. I have a lot of work to do so if you wouldn't mind, kindly run along-"

Just then, the bag of seeds he had just set down slide off the wheelbarrow and burst open on the ground.

"Oh dammit to puss spewing, blood gutting hell!" Bob yelled out as he got on his hands and knees and began scooping up the seeds into a small bucket. Lisa knelt down and began gathering the seeds too while Bob grumbled angrily.

"Great…just what I need…a lousy start to a lousy day…how could things get any worse?"

"Yo, Professor!"

Bob and Lisa both looked up as a young man with long bright ginger hair walked towards them, wearing a tie dye shirt and sandals. He had a calm serene look on his face and gave Lisa a small smile before turning back to Bob. "Sorry to interrupt but Prof. Cantwell asked me to give you this."

He then held up a note which Bob took and read.

_Dear Robert,  
Please stop by my office later after class to help arrange my folders and paper work in alphabetical order. Be sure to bring your own highlighter, pen and paper clips. Also I need to write an opening speech for next week's presentation. Be ready with a pad and paper to write down my ideas. And then type them into a 500 word paper.  
See you soon.  
Tina_

Bob grimaced and folded the paper up, putting it in his pocket. "Thank you young man. Please tell Prof. Cantwell I shall be there around later this afternoon."

"No problamo." He nodded nonchalantly. "By the way, good luck with finding an assistant to help with your garden man. Normally I would volunteer cause I love mother earth and all, but it interferes with my Saturday class. Hope that's cool."

Bob felt a jolt of panic and laughed nervously as Lisa shot him a confused look out the corner of her eye. "That's quite all right, no need for apologies. Now why don't you head on back to Prof. Cantwell? Can't keep her waiting now." He then quickly shoved the youth away back in the direction of the main building.

The young man stumbled a bit but was otherwise unperturbed. "Whatever you say professor man…oh by the way, I have another note here for you. You have Fredrick St. Banks in your class right?"

"Unfortunately." Bob replied as the young man shoved another note into his hand.

"Yeah he asked me to give this to you too. Be careful when opening it though." He then paused and shot Lisa another amused smile. "Like your hair by the way. Peace!"

Lisa felt herself blush a bit and watched as the red-haired youth left the courtyard.

Bob then opened the letter, which appeared to be stained, and reared in disgust after reading it.  
_  
Dear Professor,_

_Here's something green to add to your garden._

Enclosed, was a large collection of boogers and loogies wiped on the paper.

Bob grumbled angrily and crumpled up the paper and stomped it into the dirt.

"So wait…you didn't cancel the tryouts?"

Bob then turned to Lisa, who he almost forgot was there. "Huh? Oh that. Well, you see…"

"I thought you said you found an assistant?" Lisa continued. "Come to think of it, why aren't they here taking care of the garden for you?"

"Yes my assistant, uh…cancelled on me last minute." Bob said thinking quickly.

"He cancelled on you last minute after accepting the job last minute?" Lisa asked skeptically.

Bob glared at her in annoyance. "Look, I don't need to explain anything to you. I have a lot of things I need to get done and such little time- oh great, now I'm behind schedule! Prof. Cantwell's going to have my head." Glancing at his watch, Bob quickly gathered the remaining seeds into the bucket as he hoisted it into the wheelbarrow and lifted it up by the handles "If there's nothing further, I'll ask you to please stay out of my way while I tend to the garden."

As Bob pushed the wheelbarrow toward the greenhouse door, Lisa stayed in one spot, thinking over her options as well as the opportunity now available to her. She then watched as Bob struggled to get his keys out with one hand which holding the wheelbarrow with the other. She quickly walked over and grabbed the wheelbarrow, holding it upright while Bob finally managed to locate his keys.

"You know I was thinking..." Lisa thought out loud as Bob began to finagle the key into the lock. "Since you have a lot on your plate at the moment and are in need of an assistant to help with things in the garden… and I just happen to be the only here at this time… I could stick around and help out… if you wanted me to that is."

Bob paused upon hearing Lisa's words, his hands frozen on the keys which remained stuck in the lock. Suddenly a confused mixture of panic and relief filled him. On the one hand, he did desperately need the help in order to get things done on time so he could meet up with Ms. Cantwell. On the other hand, it would also mean he'd be stuck alone with Lisa all day and would have to keep an eye on her in case she did something sneaky or suspicious. Weighing his options, Bob sighed in defeat, realizing he had no choice.

"Very well then Lisa." He said turning to her. "You may volunteer for today if you so wish, but it's only temporary. I will still be holding out for others that may potentially show up and I ask that in the meantime, you keep your copious amount of questions to a minimum. Understand?"

Lisa nodded enthusiastically as Bob took his keys and unlocked the greenhouse door. "Good. In the meantime, why don't we head inside and get started?"

As they both entered, the strong stench of manure hit Lisa's nose and she struggled not to retch. "Ugh, what is that horrible odor!?"

"Oh that? I'm trying out some new fertilizer for the soil and it's proven to be more potent than I expected. Give it time and eventually you'll get used to it. Try not to inhale too deeply though."

Covering her nose with her shirt, Lisa stepped into the greenhouse and was met with a truly breathtaking sight. The greenhouse, which was much larger then it appeared on the outside, was filled with luscious vegetation and plant life. The glass walls and ceiling were lined high with ivy wrapped in tomato stalks as well several types of beans. On the ground were several marked rows of vegetable beds containing carrots, lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, eggplant, zucchini and peppers all growing out of rich dark soil. Resting on nearby shelves were small pots and gutter shelves which featured several types of fresh herbs and spices, including basil, cilantro, mint, sage, rosemary and parsley. She followed Bob along a cobblestone path between the vegetable patches, past several stone fountains that featured various types of animals and through random patches of plant life. To Lisa, she felt like she had stepped in a garden paradise.

"This place is beautiful…" Lisa said in awe.

"Yes it is quite breathtaking." Bob responded as he carefully maneuvered his wheelbarrow around one of the vegetable beds. "Please be careful when walking around though. The make-shift sprinkler system I built hasn't been completely installed yet and the exposed pipes can rupture easily if stepped on."

Lisa carefully stepped around a small pipe and inspected one of vegetable beds curiously. "Are those sweet potatoes? Aren't they hard to grow in this season? Wouldn't you have to-"

She caught Bob eyeing her and immediately stopped talking. "I mean, it's impressive that you could grow something like that in here."

Seeing that she was attempting to complimentary, Bob decided to indulge. "Yes well, it's not any harder than growing carrots or eggplant. But thanks to some creative scientific shortcuts, I can now grow potatoes as easily as I grow lettuce."

Lisa looked at Bob in surprise. "Wow, so all this you grew entirely by yourself?"

"Well, mother nature did lend a hand in some places." Bob explained, attempting to be humble. "But for the most part, I did help organize her work into what you see now." He then reached into a small pot containing a leafy plant and carefully tore off one of its leaves, handing it to Lisa. "Here, sniff this basil. It'll help numb your nose to the fertilizer smell."

"Thank you." Lisa said, inhaling the sweet smelling basil as she continued gazing around the greenhouse in awe. "You certainly did a spectacular job with this place. But then again, I shouldn't be surprised by Monsarno's former top scientist."

Bob smiled slightly, remembering his old workplace. "Ah yes, those were some good times I spent in Monsarno labs…at least the parts where I wasn't being chained up and electrocuted by monkeys."

"And these vegetables are so bright and luscious." Lisa noted, examining the variously colored kale and peppers. "How long did it take you grow them? Did you use any special fertilizer? Certainly is a feat to make an organic garden appear this way…"

Bob paused, looking slightly uncomfortable, but remained composed. "I'm afraid those are enough questions for today. For now though, why don't you put your things away in the supply cabinet while we wait a few more minutes for others to show up?" Bob said gesturing towards a work bench in the corner.

As Lisa went to put her bag away, a worried look crossed Bob's face. He knew this would happen. They hadn't even started working together yet and already Lisa was asking way too many questions. While he still needed her help to get through today, there was no way he could let her stay on and discover some of the other secrets he was hiding. Immediately he started thinking of ways to get rid of her (legit ways that didn't include murder or kidnapping) and smiled when he came up a solution.

"Alright Lisa, let's not waste any more time and get straight to work!" Bob said as Lisa rejoined him.

"But shouldn't we wait for-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Bob immediately shoved a garden fork into her hand and pulled her down towards the nearest garden bed. "Now I want you to till the soil under all these plants while I get the watering cans ready."

"Wouldn't a rake be more efficient-"

"NO RAKES!" Bob snapped before quickly calming back down. "I mean, enough chatter. You have a lot of vegetable beds to get through. Better get started. Chop, chop!"

Taken slightly off guard by the bizarre method, Lisa hesitantly began using the small fork to break up the soil under the many rows of plants. From behind, Bob smirked down at her. If she was determined to work for him, then he'd make her work so hard that she would quit after the first day. Hopefully by then, he'd have at least one other student show up for the job so he'd have the excuse of dismissing her. Either way, Bob planned to make Lisa quit by evenings end.

* * *

"Alrighty, break time!" Bob called out as he settled his shovel down and took off his gloves. "You get thirty minutes for lunch!"

After nearly two hours of back breaking work, Lisa dropped her shovel and slowly limped her way over to the sink, ripping off her gloves so she could wash up. It took a lot of effort for her just to lift her arms and turn the knob on the faucet, but when she did, the cool water felt therapeutic on her skin. Never before had she exerted herself that much while gardening. What was worse, she was sure Bob had planned that intentionally and was trying to drive her to exhaustion.

Since handing her the fork, Bob seemed intent on making her do all the gardening chores in the most inefficient, tedious way possible. Aside from refusing to use rakes to till the soil, he also made her personally water each plant with a large heavy watering can instead of using the sprinkler system he mentioned, ("Oh dear, it seems to have broken down again!") and he made her lug around a huge bag of fertilizer, giving her only a small measuring spoon to scoop and spread over all the plants. She had tried correcting him on his bizarre methods but he either ignored her or gave her a more difficult chore to do.

The worst was when he made her organize and reorganize bags of seeds that he planned to plant in the winter, first in alphabetical order, then in order of color and finally according to species and genus. Once she was done, he made her shovel out the dead remnants of a vegetable bed in order to plant new ones. She was halfway done when they broke for lunch and her body now felt drained and weak, like she had just run a marathon while lifting weights and carrying several bags of luggage at once.

Washing off the dirt and grime from her hands and face, Lisa then grabbed her bag and headed towards a bench by the greenhouse entrance, wanting to be as far away from Bob as possible. She let out a tired sigh as she plopped down on the bench, barely having the strength to sit up properly.

"Ohhh…how am I going to get through the rest of today? At this rate I'll be lucky if my limbs don't fall off…"

Massaging her sore digging arm, Lisa started to think working in the garden was a huge mistake. It was clear that Bob didn't want her there and seemed to be piling on more work then was necessary just to prove his point. Would he be doing that every time she came to work here? If that was the case, she wouldn't last a week. However, it was the only way she'd have a chance of figuring out the password for the flash drive. The sooner she figured out the answer, the sooner she could quit and go back to avoiding Bob for the rest of the school year.

Taking a water bottle out of her bag, she chugged half of it in one gulp before opening up a bag of dehydrated apple slices she had gotten from the vending machine. They weren't her favorite and were rather tough to chew but at least they were edible, even if it was hardly enough to last her the day.

Across the greenhouse, Bob had taken out his own lunch and was already digging in. He hummed a little, being pleased with himself for cracking the whip on Lisa. Surely by the time the day had ended, she would want to quit. However it left him in a difficult position, as no other student had shown up to help, which would leave him shorthanded. The thought of having to meet up with Ms. Cantwell later also weighed on his mind, as he knew she was just waiting to pile more responsibilities on him, making him all the more anxious to seek the aid he needed.

As Bob took a bite out of his cucumber sandwich, he found himself looking over at Lisa, who sat on the faraway bench eating some sort of bagged snack. She looked miserable and tired and it seemed as if eating her snack was causing her some sort of discomfort. Watching her struggle, his curiosity got the better of him, causing him to walk over as she attempted to devour another apple slice.

"You know if I didn't know any better, I'd say it looks like you're trying to eat drywall." Bob said as he approached Lisa.

She glared at him in annoyance and swallowed her apple slice. "Do you mind? I'm trying to eat my lunch in peace."

Bob looked down at the plastic bag and winced in disgust. "Ugh, dehydrated apple slices? You know you get just as much nutrients out of those as you would with pieces of cardboard."

"Yeah well, they were the only decent things I could find at the vending machines that weren't over two dollars." Lisa scoffed as she took another swig from her water bottle.

Bob looked at her curiously. "I thought Stanford pays for your meal plan? Why are you wasting money on snacks even uncouth elementary school children wouldn't touch?"

Lisa rolled her eyes and sighed. "If you must know, it's because all the meal options in the cafeteria are either unsuitable for a vegetarian like myself or are downright inedible. Especially that sorry excuse of a salad bar."

"Ah…I see your tongue has also been insulted by the atrocity that is that withering compost heap." Bob said, suddenly remembering the deplorable state of the salad bar. "The first time I ate there, I found slugs in my bits of rancid lettuce and the carrots were so soft, I could tie them up like string. And don't get me started on the radishes. Let's just say there was enough fuzz on them to knit a hat."

"Tell me about it." Lisa smirked. "The mushrooms had so many heads growing out of them, I thought they were gonna start a choir."

Bob let out a small amused laugh which Lisa also shared in despite herself.

"Tell you what, since your lunch is less than adequate, why don't you share mine? I tend to binge a bit during the day so I always make extra for myself." Bob offered.

"No it's okay." Lisa said looking at her apple slices wearily. "I'm sure I'll get through this by the time lunch is over."

"Are you sure?" Bob arched an eyebrow and leaned in close. "I have cucumber sandwiches…"

Lisa's eyes widened and looked at Bob. "On what kind of bread?"

"Why wheat bread of course. Along with a lemon dill cream cheese spread." Bob said.

Lisa immediately dropped her bag of slices and followed Bob back towards the bench where his food still lay spread out. Sitting down, her mouth instantly watered from seeing the sandwiches but she got real excited when she noticed a jar of dip. "Is that hummus?"

"Why yes." Bob said handing her the jar and a small bag of pita chips. "It's a special type of three bean recipe I discovered online. I can also make it with eggplant and peppers when I'm in need of variety. Have a taste."

Lisa dipped a chip into the hummus and savored the creamy chickpea taste. "This is wonderful! And you made this yourself?"

"Through much trial and error, yes." Bob said, sitting on a nearby rock. "But I dare say it's more edible then your dehydrated cardboard apples or a multi-headed mushrooms."

"I'll say." Lisa said as she dipped more chips into the hummus. "It's strange through, I never would have pegged you as a cook…or a vegetarian for that matter."

"I wouldn't say I'm a complete vegetarian, more like a reluctant convert of circumstance." Bob said taking a bite from a sandwich. "No offense to your personal philosophy on animals, but I couldn't resist a good filet migion or chicken franchise should the dish be presented to me. Alas, my current diet is catered more towards my health rather than personal taste. But since I couldn't very well survive on food paste and pencil shavings, much less that unmitigated gob they serve in the cafeteria, I learned to prepare my own meals. It's time consuming but it's benefited me greatly these past years."

"I can see that." Lisa nodded, glancing at his thinner form as she ate a sandwich. "So…what kind of health problems do you have…that is, if you don't mind me asking?"

Bob pondered for a moment and sighed. "Well…I suppose it'd be okay telling you, given that you know the details of my past involved in this story…you remember when we spoke of Monsarno earlier? And all the work I've put into manipulation of DNA?"

Lisa nodded as Bob went on. "Well after I left Springfield, I couldn't very well continue manipulating my genes like before, so my body had to naturally process out all of the foreign DNA. As it takes the body several years to grow new cells, I went through a sort of…withdrawal period. I became ravenous with food to the point where I was making Santa Claus look physically fit, all of my animal extremities were causing me severe discomfort, and my emotional state was turbulent and unpredictable at best. Not to mention I would often be struck with…ahem…certain animalistic urges…"

"Urges?" Lisa asked.

"So naturally, I couldn't take it anymore." Bob continued, avoiding the question. "I managed to locate an old colleague of mine from school who became a medical doctor and he performed a few operations on me to help with the naturalization process. As a result, I had to make changes in my diet to help cleanse my system and prevent any more undesirable instincts from re-emerging. It's been a few years now and I'm happy to say I'm animal DNA free. Human components notwithstanding."

"That's wonderful Bob." Lisa said admirably. "But I am curious though…what sort of 'extremities' did you end up having to remove?"

"I'm afraid that's where it gets rather…personal." Bob said, clearing his throat as he subconsciously scratched his backside. "Also, I do believe our thirty minute lunch break is up."

"Already? That was quick." Lisa said, standing up as she finished the last cucumber sandwich. "Thanks for sharing your lunch with me. It's the best meal I've had since coming here."

"Oh you flatter me Lisa." Bob nodded humbly. "Now why don't you put on your gloves and I'll show you how to prune leaves on all the plants?"

* * *

Even though Lisa was only supposed to train for two more hours, she ended up staying at least twice as long to the point where the sun was starting to set. During that time, she and Bob had gone over every single technique and method for taking care of the plants. At one point, it seemed like Bob was making up tasks to show Lisa as he seemed to be paying more attention to her then the clock. Lisa didn't mind though as she became engrossed in their conversations, which involved topics such as Bob's diet, what sort of food he cooked, the recipes he wanted to try out, where Lisa could find cheap alternative food within walking distance of the school, and how she could grow small plants in her dorm window. They were so deep in conversation that neither one of them bothered checking the time, with Bob even turning off the sound on his phone so they wouldn't be interrupted, resulting in several missed calls from Ms. Cantwell.

"I'm telling you, if you added a couple of berry bushes in here, you could grow more food during the winter time and use it to make several different types of jam and preserves." Lisa said putting away her gloves.

"Hmm, now that you mention it, I have always wanted to try a new recipe that involves boysenberry jam." Bob contemplated as he packed way the remaining tools in his wheelbarrow. "But alas, there wouldn't be much room for them to grow in here. I'd either have to remove several vegetable beds or dig up one of the stone paths."

"Well…what about putting it in another greenhouse?" Lisa asked thoughtfully. "There are several of them here that are unused. Surely the school would let you use one of them?"

Suddenly Bob looked uncomfortable. "Another…well, see Lisa the thing about that is…um…"

Lisa looked at Bob curiously as he struggled to come up with an explanation. "The school…only gives me enough money to pay for this place. Yes. See the budget only allows for this one greenhouse to be operational. To run another or several of the greenhouses I'd need more money, more support from the school. But since this is for my own personal hobby, they wouldn't consider it unless I had something to give back to them."

Lisa thought for a moment. "But you do have something to offer the school. A vegetarian alternative! If we grew enough fresh produce to sell in the cafeteria, we could replace all that revolting stuff at the salad bar and give the greenhouse a real purpose within the school!"

"We?" Bob asked.

"Oh…I'm sorry. I guess I sort of assumed since I was the only one to show up…" Lisa said, awkwardly rubbing her arm. "But if you'd rather not have me as your assistant I'd understand…"

Bob paused. This was it. She was giving him the opportunity to say no without guilt. And yet, as he looked at her, thinking back to the conversations and ideas they had come up with together in the last few hours, he found himself incredibly reluctant to do so.

Lisa however, seemed to have gotten the message. "It's alright. I…need the time to study more anyways. Well it's been fun. I guess I'll see you in class."

As Lisa turned away towards the entrance, she immediately felt a hand on his shoulder. "Wait!"

Lisa turned to see Bob, who seemed surprised by his own actions and quickly withdrew his hand. "I didn't say you…didn't have the job. Cause you do! That is, it makes no sense not to, considering that we've spent so much time going over everything. Plus, I could share more of my homemade recipes with you, perhaps provide you with a free lunch or two…at least till you can procure a proper meal for yourself."

Lisa's eyes lit up in excitement. "Really? That's great! Cause I have so many ideas for us to try out, so many improvements to make! Oh I can't wait get started, when should I come in next?"

"Um…oh, Tuesday would be great. I have a meeting during the day but I can join you later in case you need a refresher on anything we've gone over."

"Sounds perfect! I need to head back to the dorm now but I'll be sure to write down everything we discussed for next time. See you then Professor!" Lisa then skipped merrily out of the greenhouse.

Bob waved after her and waited till she was gone before he went into the back room and began banging his head against the wall.

"Stupid, stupid fool!" Bob cursed to himself. "How could you let this happen? You had the opportunity to get rid of her! Oh it's so like you to let yourself be overcome by flattery and conversation! Just because it's the first real significant interaction you had with a person in years-"

Bob then paused, surprised at the uttering of his own words. He hadn't realized till that moment just how incredibly lonely his life had become. After all, he no longer was in contact with his family and any prior relation he once had now thought him dead or missing. Plus Bob hadn't made any close friends since he'd gone into hiding. He never really talked with his fellow professors unless it regarded their curriculum's and most of the students he's had were either complete dullards or self-obsessed book worms that only talked to him when they needs homework advice.

And then there was Lisa. Bright, intelligent Lisa, whom he could hold a conversation with for hours and would still want to continue further. It was just like when she would assist him with experiments back at the Monsarno labs, all while discussing topics of poetry, art and music. Thinking back to those fun times made Bob feel strangely sentimental and even hopeful for future encounters.

"Maybe having her here won't be so bad. As long as I don't let her ask too many questions or go into my office, I have nothing to worry about…and at least it'll be nice to have a stimulating conversation to look forward to for once."

With that happy thought in mind, Bob packed up his things and headed out of the greenhouse towards the main building. For the first time since the school year started, he was looking forward to seeing Lisa again.

* * *

Lisa arrived back at her dorm, practically buzzing with ideas and eager to get to her laptop so she could write them down. She was surprised to see Janey lounging on her bed reading a magazine.

"Janey? What are you doing back early?" Lisa asked.

"Early? What are you doing back so late?" Janey asked, looking at her skeptically before wrinkling her nose in disgust. "Ugh, and why do you smell so bad? Did you roll around in a cow field or something?"

"Sorry, that's the fertilizer. It's really potent stuff…wait, have I really been out that long?" Lisa asked finally paying attention to the dimming light outside.

"Let's just say I managed to get most of my math homework done by this point. And you know how long that takes me." Janey said, suddenly sitting up straight. "So how'd it go by the way? Why did you stay so late? Did Prof. Sullivan make you pull out all the weeds on campus or something?"

"Actually…it was quite nice." Lisa said thinking over the past couple hours. "It was rather tough at the beginning but now…I'm rather looking forward to going back again."

"Really?" Janey asked skeptically. "What about Prof. Sullivan? Aren't you worried he's gonna find out that you took his flash drive?"

Lisa paused for a moment, smiled and shook her head. "I don't think I have to worry about him finding out. As long as neither of us says anything, I think I'll be able to bear his company for a little while...and get some tasty lunches while I'm at it." The thought of the hummus and sandwiches made her mouth water, leading Lisa to spend the rest of the night on her laptop looking up gardening techniques and vegetarian recipes to share with Bob during their next encounter.

* * *

I'll do my best to get the next chapter out sooner, though I'm not making any promises. Also, for those who read my Avatar stuff, just letting you know I plan to revive my Lion King fic and finish what I started. So be on the lookout!


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